coachellavalleyweekly.com • September 5 to September 11, 2019 Vol. 8 No. 25
Arek Religa
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Avon
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Bryan Adams
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Casey Dolan
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Sushi ON
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September 5 to September 11, 2019
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LITTLE BAR – SIZE MATTERS
September 5 to September 11, 2019
BY NOE GUTIERREZ
PHOTOS BY ROBERT CHANCE
Coachella Valley Weekly (760) 501-6228
publisher@coachellavalleyweekly.com coachellavalleyweekly.com facebook.com/cvweekly twitter.com/cvweekly1 Publisher & Editor Tracy Dietlin Art Director Robert Chance Sales Team Kirby, Sheila Rosenthal, Dori Berry Club Crawler Nightlife Editor Phil Lacombe Feature Writers Lisa Morgan, Rich Henrich, Heidi Simmons, Noe Gutierrez, Avery Wood, Tricia Witkower, Jason Hall, Crystal Harrell, Esther Sanchez Writers/Contributors: Robin Simmons, Rick Riozza, Eleni P. Austin, Craig Michaels, Janet McAfee, Bronwyn Ison, Haddon Libby, Dale Gribow, Laura Hunt Little, Sam DiGiovanna, Rob Brezny, Dr. Peter Kadile, Bruce Cathcart, Flint Wheeler, Dee Jae Cox, Denise Ortuno Neil, Angela Romeo, Aaron Ramson, Lynne Tucker, Elizabeth Scarcella, Aimee Mosco, Michelle Anne Rizzio Photographers Robert Chance, Laura Hunt Little, Chris Miller, Iris Hall, Esther Sanchez Website Editor Bobby Taffolla Distribution Phil Lacombe, William Westley
CONTENTS
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guy walks into a little bar… He sees the one-time Big Three of Goldenvoice, Paul Tollett, Bill Fold and Skip Paige talking with each other as a kind of round table of music magnates. Conspicuously conferring with each other about something epic perhaps. The 2020 Coachella line-up? Maybe a return to Desert Trip? Another celebrated festival? Oh, to be a fly on the wall of that conversation. We later learned that Tollett and Fold were simply visiting Paige’s newest adventure, little bar, and offering good wishes while reminiscing about the good times thanks to the hand-picked, custom ticket stub wallpaper strategically designed by Paige and associates. Paige further explains, “All these tickets are shows I personally attended or that I was personally involved in producing.”
It’s this personalization that makes little bar an enormous symbolization of Paige’s personality and passions. Formerly the site of Randy’s Café in Palm Desert, California, little bar fits 31 patrons inside and 16 on the patio. The speakeasystyle watering hole with its oversized solid oak door and proper peep hole is managed by Tiffany Rivera and will be open to the public on September 5th to provide cocktails, wine, beer and spirits as well as a lunch and latenight menu Sunday through Monday and until 2 a.m. on the weekends. For those who miss Randy’s celebrated breakfast menu, you’re in luck, ‘Breakfast with Randy’ will be served on weekends. The address is 73560 Highway 111 and is adjacent to Tanpopo Japanese Restaurant and The Lock Shop, Inc. Since Paige “transitioned” from
Goldenvoice on Nov. 22, 2017 he has attended to his adult children’s needs and traveled the world. “I love to travel, and I’ll never stop. It’s awesome. It’s makes you tolerant. It makes you understand people,” he shared. It’s that understanding of people that helped him create the ‘Best Music Festival in the World’. Promoting bands like Oingo Boingo and Social Distortion since the early 80’s, Paige was instrumental in the launch of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival as well as its Country kin-fest Stagecoach Festival and 2016’s Desert Trip, featuring Paul McCartney, The Who, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Roger Waters, which grossed more than $160 million over two weekends. Coachella Valley Weekly was invited by Paige for a walk-around, sit-down and sneak continue to page 5
Skip Paige's little bar............................... 3 Arek Religa.............................................. 6 Avon ........................................................ 6 Bryan Adams at Fantasy Springs .......... 7 Consider This - Those Pretty Wrongs.... 8 Breaking The 4th Wall............................ 9 Personal Profile - Casey Dolan.............. 9 Pet Place ............................................... 10 The Vino Voice ....................................... 11 Club Crawler Nightlife .................... 12-13 Pampered Palate - Sushi ON.................14 Brewtality .............................................. 15 Screeners .............................................. 16 Book Review.......................................... 17 Safety Tips ............................................. 17 Haddon Libby ....................................... 19 Dale Gribow.......................................... 19 Free Will Astrology............................... 20 Swag For The Soul................................ 20 Cannabis Corner................................... 22
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little bar continued from page 3 peek of little bar. Paige was candid about little bar, his departure from Goldenvoice, his children and there was no concealing the twinkle in his eye when talking about the focal point of his career thus far, music. On the Impetus of little bar “Dirk Alton, president and owner of Best Beverage Co. (BBC), who provides food and beverage at Coachella came to me and said, ‘I’ve got a liquor license in Riverside County and you always talked about opening a bar, so why don’t you look for a spot?’ I had never been to Randy’s but I looked in the window and I thought that’s kind of a cool spot and then a broker friend of mine came to me and said, ‘Hey, Randy’s is for sale, you should go in there, you guys would get along great,’ so I went in, sat down and had breakfast with him and he knew everything about me. He was cool. He said he couldn’t imagine selling it to anybody but me. He had been here 32 years. For a while I kept coming in and then made him an offer, we cut the deal and closed it. I gutted it completely and rebuilt the place entirely. The bar is a fun project. It’s something cool and I want to do it for the people. I have a lot of friends in the desert, so I want to do it for them.” Genuinely Small “I don’t want overhead; I don’t want to stress out. I don’t want a restaurant. You see these places on El Paseo, the owners are working day and night. That’s not what this is, it’s a cool little spot. It’s actually smaller than my living room. It’s a spot where people can come over, they can hang out, we got good music, we got cool shit on the walls and good food. I’m not going big. I’m not doing this to make money. I’m doing it for a cool place for my stuff. A place where my friends can hang out. There’s a club in Berlin called Berghain where they are notorious for not letting people in, I was with my buddy once and we were with two local German girls who attend Coachella every year. We wait in this line, all these cool hipster kids get in, we get up to the front and the doorman said, ‘no’ and shushed us away. I want it to be comfortable, I don’t want it to be pretentious. It’s small, so not everybody is going to get in.” On the little bar Menu “The menu I picked is stuff I like. I’m going to have beers I like. I’ll have the local breweries. There’s the new Desert Beer Co. in Palm Desert so I’m looking forward to having a couple of their beers. I like La Quinta Brewing Co. too. We’ll have a house wine and a lot of cool different wines. Maybe every once in a while, I’ll have a private event where I can seat 18-20 and have a sit-down dinner. The kitchen is full-service. The menu will be consistent. There will be staples and daily specials like baby back ribs, tri-tip or menudo.” On the Art, Music & Books of little bar “We have artwork from Jamie Perry from Riverside. He’s featured at CODA Gallery on El Paseo. He’s an old friend and I have a big collection of his paintings. The painting in the bar is from looking West down from Avenue 51 right into El Dorado Polo Club. When you look down the road and see the Coachella
mountain. He made me stand out in the field with a guitar and he took a picture of me and then he painted that. I have the same one at home, it’s a man with a briefcase. For the music, we could get Alf Alpha to pull up in a bus out front and DJ which would be cool. I got a really good sound system. There’s no dancing. I’m not a fan of dancing. I don’t dance. If there’s a football game on or a Dodger game on, we’ll be able to watch. Everywhere you sit in here you can see the TV. It’s going to be like 30 of my friends coming over to my house. I have a lot of books in the bar too. I’m really into mid-century architecture and Goldenvoice was heavily involved in Modernism Week so I have books on modern architecture. There’s a book about Phish that Trey gave to me. I like cool album covers. I have a book of Capitol Records album covers. I have a book about cruise ships that I have from when we did the S.S. Coachella cruise. I have books on Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival and Burning Man. I have a book about books.” On His Time at little bar “I’ll probably be there a lot in the beginning. My job was to build it out and give it a point of view and get the people here. My partner Dirk, who runs the Tack Room Tavern and The Cantina and does a lot of work at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, will run the bar and all the staff. His job is to make sure people are happy with the food and the booze. My job is to make it cool. I’ll be here a lot. I like to hang out, plus I don’t really cook, and I live by myself, so I’ll be able to come here and have them cook for me.” On the Ticket Stub Wallpaper “My staff came up with a bunch of different schemes and this is what we picked. If you’ve ever been to my house, I don’t really display a bunch of memorabilia. I have one framed thing that has a bunch of tickets. You don’t walk into my house and see a museum of stuff. I’m not into it. I thought people would like to look at these as a conversation piece. It gives the place a little bit of point of view. I go into other places; I didn’t want a Hard Rock feel. I didn’t want anything I wasn’t involved with. I didn’t want Prince’s jacket. It doesn’t mean anything to me. If it was Prince’s jacket that he gave to me after we partied all night, then yes. Making the custom wallpaper was a great idea because people can’t steal it. If they write on it, we’ll just get new wallpaper.”
On His Favorite Concerts & Artists “Looking at the wall, it’s hard to pick my favorite show but most of my favorite shows were long before I got into the heavy business of concert promoting. I would say my favorite show on our wall is The Pretenders at The Roxy in ‘94. Chrissie Hynde was just amazing, and it was such a small place. It was the first show I had been to with a ‘big’ band in a small place. Their energy was amazing, and she kicked ass! I remember leaving there and saying, ‘fuck, that was really good!’ The quintessential awesome show. Some of my favorite bands maybe that weren’t necessarily my favorite shows but shows that I remember as being awesome would be Ramones at The Palladium. I think that might have been one of the last times they played Los Angeles. Just a really special show with all the original members. Anything having to do with Metallica and Guns N’ Roses. I always loved those shows. Obviously, Coachella and Stagecoach are some of my favorite shows. I believe music is a very personal thing. I remember in high school judging people on the bands that they listen to. I tell the story about Bill. He listened to Iron Maiden and all these punk bands and he was hardcore. He would always give me shit about Van Halen. Van Halen is rad! I’m never embarrassed by my selection of music or books. How many hits does KISS have? A lot! More than most bands.” On Phish Festival 8 in 2009 “I had never been to a Phish show. That concert came together in a really weird way. I was at Red Rocks in Colorado to see The Police. One of our AEG promoters invited me to go with his buddy Brad, who manages Police drummer Stewart Copeland. We were hanging out backstage and Brad walks up to me and says he’s getting married and moving to L.A. He comes to my office and tells me he’s Trey Anastasio’s best friend and Phish reunited at his wedding. They always wanted to do a festival in California and they play a legendary album on Halloween, which is also Brad’s birthday. I told him I don’t know Phish. I knew they were big. So, I went to Alpine Valley, Wisconsin to see them and I’ve loved them ever since. I saw all the balloons flying around and I thought that was cool. Then Brad told me they were filled with nitrous.” On the Music He’s Currently Listening To “I like anything heavy. Over the years my taste has changed to music like retro-pop
September 5 to September 11, 2019 Chill Wave. I listen to Zero 7, Tom Misch and Thievery Corporation, I got more mellow. I used to be in the pit, all those punk bands like The Circle Jerks. There’s a three-piece band that played Coachella recently, Khruangbin, mainly instrumental music with elements of Surf Rock and ‘60s Southeast Asian Rock. The album is cool. I don’t get the lyrics, but I don’t think that’s what it’s about. I’m really into Phish and the jam thing. I’m also listening to Nathaniel Rateliff, that vintage Americana and Country thing. I’ve always liked Country music. I still go to shows but not as many. I just went to Elton John.” On His Imminent Departure from Goldenvoice & Future “Working sucks to be honest with you. I was stressed out. I was going to stroke out. It wasn’t good. Not that anything was bad. Paul and I were friends in college in 1985 where we first met. He’s a genius. He inspires me still to this day. It was so much pressure. It was different. Twenty years have gone by and I always knew I was not going to do this forever. He’s going to do this forever. It’s a young person’s business. I remember the first Coachella. I loved every band. I remember 2002, I helped him book it; The Strokes, Oasis, Bjork, Foo Fighters, I knew every band and loved every band. And later on, I felt cool that I was being exposed to the new bands, but I didn’t like them. I would go hours without even seeing a band. In the later years I wasn’t even in the music business, I was in the real estate business because we bought El Dorado Polo Club and bought all the other property around the grounds. Once the city of La Quinta came to us about the environmental impact issues and going to two weekends, I had to go fulltime managing that. I took a step back. I got a divorce, it sucked. My kids were 15 and 17. My son is 21 now and seems happy. He’s coping with a major health issue. He’s going to work here as a server and bartender. I’m not interested in working right now, maybe later. I want my kids in a good spot and keep them slow and steady. My daughter is 18 and attends the University of Oregon. I’m only 53 so I’m sure I’ll have a long career in another industry, but I lost my interest. I brought it up to Paul today about the story when every night I would stand in front of The Roxy Theatre. It didn’t matter what band was playing, but I stood out there and industry agents and managers would walk up and I would talk to them. That was my meeting place. I would drive by sometimes and I would see Paul and he had his hand on the same parking meter and he would lean against it every night because we didn’t really own venues before AEG owned our company so we were at The Roxy and The Palladium. I hung out in more parking lots than I did inside the shows. That’s where all the industry was. If I was to think about it now, I’m not interested in doing that. I’m not interested in that business. I’m interested in real estate. I’m now retired and living the life. I like the desert a lot. I love living out here. I have a big house with date trees and a lot of gardening. I just wanted a cool spot I could hang out in.” little-bar.com
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CVMA WINNER FOR BEST INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMANCE AREK RELIGA 2019
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rek Religa is a Coachella Valley-based guitar virtuoso born in Kamienna Góra, Poland and winner of the 2019 CVMA for ‘Best Instrumental Performance’. He is a proficient musician, composer, arranger and producer who works diligently in his home studio in La Quinta, California recording and performing as a solo guitarist, as a guitar/vocal duo with Arek & Noe, and as part of his San Diego-based instrumental band Arek & The Lost Tribe. He picked up the guitar at a young age and began playing for the acclaimed Polish band, Guliver. Once he arrived in the United States, he entered the Chicago music scene in 2000 and released his debut album, In Memory of the Greatest in 2007. He then released the instrumental rock album, Warrior, in 2013 to rave reviews. The self-released album was composed, arranged, recorded and produced by Religa himself. The album is the perfect vessel to showcase his blistering guitar shredding skills. His improvisational guitar work has become renowned in Chicago and Coachella Valley music circles. Religa was the 2nd runner-up in Guitar Player Magazine’s Guitar Superstar 2011 and was the ‘Gold Winner’ of the Prestige Music Award in the ‘Electric Guitar’ category in 2013. He won the ‘Best New Age Artist’ at the Hollywood Music Awards for the song Island of My Dreams-Part 1 and in 2007 he participated in the Texas Music Project (Guitar Solo Contest) and was named the winner in the ‘Electric Guitar’ category.
LOCAL MUSIC
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t’s not difficult to be frequently amazed at the far-reaching extent of the desert rock bloodline. California threesome AVON is an artist that is heavily tangled in the branches of this exclusive family tree having had former drummer Alfredo Hernandez (KYUSS, QOTSA, Whiskey & Knives) and current bassist Charles Pasarell (WAXY, LAKOTA) in their line-up. AVON will be performing at The World Famous Red Barn at 73290 Highway 111 in Palm Desert for WAXY’s Bon Voyage and Album Release Party on Friday 9/13 along with San Diego groove trio MEZZOA. The same bands will take their trilogy of power trios to California’s premiere music distributor and store Cobraside Distribution Inc. at 3639 San Fernando Road in Glendale on Saturday 9/14 for a FREE 2 p.m. matinee show and BBQ.
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PHOTOS BY THOMAS ZAYDA
Despite the significant success and accolades, he was taken aback at the nomination. “I was surprised that I was nominated,” he shared. He was equally excited for taking home the award. “I felt happy with winning, I like to win.” It was also thrilling for him to have a family member present. Religa had the opportunity to bring his daughter to the CVMAs and witness his win. He shared, “It was the first time she had the opportunity to attend this kind of event with me. She was very excited, happy and proud of me. I felt great seeing her smiley face after we found out I was the winner.” Religa is a father of two and has secured a substantial foundation of supportive music friends in the desert. Religa has also had plenty of personal challenges while achieving his
AVON
CVMAs
BY RACHEL MONTOYA accomplishments. Last year he suffered a significant health issue and had to cancel a scheduled performance at La Quinta Brewing Co. In stepped his desert music friends who donated their time and talent to participate in a benefit to help him defer the costs of treatment. The event featured musical performances from members of Desert Reggae bands Mozaiq and Crucial Culture, independent solo artist Courtney Chambers, surf rockers Mighty Jack, multi-genre artist 5thTown and The Cult tribute band Aphrodisiac Jacket. The event was prosperous and attended by friends and strangers alike including then Desert Sun arts and entertainment journalist Bruce Fessier who came to know Religa from his performance at Tachevah Music Showcase. In 2017 Religa reached the Top 10 at Tachevah and competed in one of two preliminary showcases held at Pappy & Harriet’s where he won over the crowd with his rocking instrumental Mr. Jack and wowed attendees playing two guitars at once. In 2018 Religa performed double duty with the heavy music band Joe’s Boyz and his instrumental quartet Arek & The Lost Tribe at The Rockyard at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino for the Marker Broadcasting and Live Nation 2018 Rising Stars of the Desert Music Contest. Although he didn’t win this time, he once again garnered a number of new fans and appreciation from all who were present. In addition to The Rockyard show, Joe’s Boyz only performed a handful of shows with Religa. They performed at Plan B
Entertainment & Cocktails in Thousand Palms, CA, The Hood Bar & Pizza in Palm Desert, CA for 93.7 KCLB’s 27th Birthday Bash and finally at the first Idyllwild Strong Benefit Festival in Idyllwild, CA. Original members Religa, Joe Beltran (drums), Jerry Bryson (bass), Chris Carletto (keyboards) and Noe Gutierrez (vocals) recorded one original song, “Souls,” at Sound Hub Rehearsal Studio in Cathedral City, CA which was included in the Idyllwild Strong Benefit compilation release as well as being played on KCLB thanks to Todd ‘T.K.’ Killiam. Pulling from all his unique life experiences, Religa has developed a fluid and groove-centric melodic hard rock and improvisational Jazzinformed style that incorporates such diverse influences as Carlos Santana, Journey, Black Sabbath and Pat Matheny. If you’re a fan of Ritchie Blackmore, Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen, you will become a fan of Arek Religa. Look out for the acoustic duo Arek & Noe performing around the Coachella Valley soon and new music from Arek & The Lost Tribe. There are also rumblings of a fully-amped heavy music project with Benny Cancino, Jr. (Kelly Derrickson, The Whizards, Aphrodisiac Jacket), Jerry Bryson (Joe’s Boyz, Blackwater) and Noe Gutierrez (Joe’s Boyz, Aphrodisiac Jacket, Wyte Gye). arekreliga.com Check out Arek Religa performing the guitar solo from Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” using a two-hand tapping technique on two guitars youtu.be/V2F5TaJh0aY
PERFORMING WITH WAXY & MEZZOA AT THE WORLD FAMOUS RED BARN. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019
The pair of shows will grant WAXY the proper send-off as they prepare for their European tour in October supporting Betting On Forgetting, the 2019 Coachella Valley Music Award winner for Best Album. In the wake of the desert rock band LAKOTA, AVON was formed by vocalist/ guitarist James Childs, bassist Pasarell and drummer Hernandez who had already played drums on some of the very best desert rock albums. Childs had begun his association with the desert cities in 2003 by joining former KYUSS member Chris Cockrell in Vic du Monte’s Idiot Prayer and then produced their acclaimed Prey for the City LP that was released by Brant Bjork’s Duna Records in 2005. Touring involved a name and line-up
change with Hernandez now on the drums. Vic du Monte’s Persona Non Grata was born signing to Cargo Records in Germany and went on to make four studio albums and two live releases. Childs achieved success with British rock group Airbus and it was indeed one of the last artists of its kind to sign to the label giant BMG for a deal with a large advance for recording and development before the millennium. He has also worked with Geoff Barrow of the United Kingdom Trip-Hop group Portishead for the release of a rock reconstruction of the hit single Sour Times for release on the American market. They worked together again on North American and European tours in 2012 and ‘13 with atmospheric and experimental artist Beak. in 2007 Childs worked on a project in Los Angeles with Philthy Animal Taylor formerly of Motörhead that was called Little Villains. Childs has also seen success in film and television having written the theme tune to Disney XD’s Kick Buttowski, an animated comedy series that is driven by hard-hitting rock music and earned Childs a Emmy nomination in 2011 for ‘Outstanding Original Song’. He also joined the Australian Showtime production team in 2014 and toured the world twice over with sell-out performances. Pasarell is a musician form the California desert who cut his teeth with Palm Springs band WAXY that has worked with the likes of John Garcia and toured with successful artists such as Volbeat. WAXY later went on to tour with Kyuss Lives in 2011. In 2005 he
BY NOE GUTIERREZ toured Europe on the same bill with Childs in Vic du Monte’s Persona Non Grata and again in 2007 with Childs and his UK group Airbus. Pasarell joined L.A. based Honky Tonk Punk band Devastating Karate in 2007 releasing a string of albums and touring America. Pasarell first joined Childs for the LAKOTA project in 2014 and also played bass with Vic du Monte’s Persona Non Grata prior to the formation of AVON. AVON released their debut LP Mad Marco on Spira Records in 2016 and have completed four tours in Europe including Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium and the UK. They also appeared at the prestigious Desertfest London and Berlin in 2017 supporting their H42 Records release Six Wheeled Action Man Tank. In 2018 AVON released their Dave’s Dungeon LP on the prestigious Heavy Psych Sounds label complete with an animated desert scene tribute video for their single “Red Barn” and were soon back on the road. However, 2019 marked a new era with Hernandez stepping down and the band continuing with amazing Australian drummer Kyle Thompson who Childs worked with during his time on the road with Showtime in ‘14 and ‘15. Having already worked together in the
www.coachellavalleyweekly.com studio and a new LP in the cards, the band’s rapport is evident! Coachella Valley Weekly spoke with Childs as he was mixing the 2nd Philthy album with Alan Davey from Hawkwind on bass that will be out on Cleopatra Records in 2020. CVW: AVON has been on hiatus since mid2018. What are you looking forward to most in your return? Childs: “We’re especially looking forward to the two shows with Mezzoa and WAXY as Avon has not played together since June 2018 and these gigs will be the very first shows with our new drummer Kyle Thompson.” CVW: After these two SoCal shows, what’s next for AVON? Childs: “Kyle is flying in shortly to lay down takes for a new album that we aim to release in Spring 2020. We are planning to tour the record in Europe next Spring and will do a West Coast tour including dates in SoCal to support the record.” CVW: The snippets you shared with me has that classic punk sound with some pretty heavenly vocals. What can new listeners expect from AVON?
Childs: “People who have never heard AVON can expect a thick and raw growl from the band with plenty of song and melody to keep the foot tapping. We like to mix things up a bit with atmospherics leading into PunkGrunge and Classic Rock sounds.” CVW: You have your hand in production as well and have a long history of handspun music. Childs: “I produce the records at my studio in Los Angeles that we affectionately refer to as ‘Stujo’. All the Vic du Monte LPs were completed there as well as AVON and Little Villains recordings. I used Robbie Waldman’s former studio ‘Unit A’ in Palm Springs several times for drums, most notably with Phil Taylor from Motörhead for the first Little Villains album and Airbus. I have also recorded at Alfredo’s house in Palm Springs because I liked the way the drums sounded in there for Vic du Monte’s Persona Non Grata material. Production is always in-house.” CVW: You have a great animated video for the song “Red Barn”. Who creates the videos? Childs: “I made the cartoon for “Red Barn”. Charles and I have made videos for AVON
songs. Charles made the video for Gotta Go which are all on YouTube. Charles made a nice video for the song Bleed Free for our original band LAKOTA and we filmed a video for a song called Model at Robbie’s Unit A too!” CVW: What’s your history with the Coachella Valley? Childs: “I’ve been coming out to the desert for years, in fact shortly after I arrived in the U.S. I met Chris Cockrell and after a sweaty bar brawling Vic du Monte’s Idiot Prayer at Peanut Gallery I joined the band and produced the Prey for the City (2001) album that Brant Bjork put out on Duna. Alfredo joined on drums and we toured the U.S. and Europe.” CVW: What more can you share about Robbie Waldman and Waxy? Childs: “We were back on the road as Vic Du Monte’s Persona Non Grata in October ‘05 and ‘06 where I first met Robbie and Charles from WAXY, and we’ve been friends ever since. Charles departed WAXY in 2006 and pursued his music with Devastating Karate. He and I formed LAKOTA in ‘15 with Sean Landerra who also played in WAXY.” CVW: Alfredo Hernandez is considered a
ACCLAIMED SINGER-SONGWRITER BRYAN ADAMS LOOKS BACK ON CAREER AHEAD OF FANTASY SPRINGS CONCERT ON SEPT. 13TH
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ith a career spanning four decades and a seemingly endless canon of hits, Bryan Adams has provided the soundtrack to “the best days of your life.” On Friday, September 13th, the Canadian icon brings his signature mix of feel-good rock ’n’ roll (“Summer Of ’69,” “Run to You,” “Cuts Like A Knife”) and epic power ballads (“Everything I Do I Do It For You,” “Heaven,” “All For Love”) to Fantasy Springs Resort Casino’s Special Events Center. As one of the most acclaimed singersongwriters of this or any era, Adams has earned numerous honors including a Grammy Award, an Ivor Novello, 19 Junos, and an MTV Video Music Award, in addition to multiple Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. He’s sold over 65 million albums worldwide and his latest effort, Shine A Light, was released last March. The album’s 12 tracks showcase Adams’ songwriting talent and natural pop instincts, successfully blending rock, ballads and R&B. The title cut was cowritten with Ed Sheeran and standout track “That’s How Strong Our Love Is” features Jennifer Lopez. As he approaches his 60th birthday in November, Adams shows no signs of slowing down. His thirst for performing and unique take on live concerts has solidified his reputation as one of the best vocalists of our time. A dedicated father and partner, vegan and activist, Adams talked about writing with Ed Sheeran, having to correct Luciano Pavarotti, and why he wants to plant a million trees this year ahead of his show at Fantasy Springs. CV WEEKLY: Your father was a British officer and later a Canadian diplomat, which meant that you traveled the world at a young age. How did that experience shape your outlook and influence you as an artist? ADAMS: “It was amazing to have had that experience. My record player was my escape hatch from my father’s opera and the sound of the Black Watch [an infantry battalion of
the Royal Regiment of Scotland]… it’s perhaps what drove me to become a musician.” CVW: Your songwriting partnership with Jim Vallance has been a critical component to your success. How did it come about and how has your relationship evolved over the decades? ADAMS: “It’s something we laugh about almost every time we sit together. I think we’re basically the same people, although our style of working has changed a little bit as we use email more as a way to communicate. Our latest offering was writing Pretty Woman: The Musical.” CVW: Your fourth studio album, Reckless, arrived in 1984 with a plethora of radiofriendly hits and accompanying videos tailormade for the MTV generation. Did you expect to blow-up the way you did? ADAMS: “I had a good feeling about what we were doing back then, you could sense it was happening. The previous record, Cuts Like A Knife, had gone platinum, but my deal was so bad back then I didn’t make any money from it. However, I was grateful that I was able to pay back the record company and renegotiate. Now all I needed to do was to make the right record — thankfully the stars aligned.” CVW: It’s been 50 years since the summer of ’69. How do you imagine the character from that song in the present day? Still nostalgic for the “best days of his life?” ADAMS: “The song was originally called “Best Days of My Life.” I think we all yearn for the best times in our lives and can identify with that loss of innocence from growing up, that’s why the song has endured.” CVW: You’re known for your many collaborations — everyone from Tina Turner, Roger Daltrey, Michael Buble, Jennifer Lopez and of course, Sting and Rod Stewart. What do you enjoy most about that? ADAMS: “Singing with other people is one of my great joys, singing with your musical heroes is icing on the cake. When I look back at
September 5 to September 11, 2019 desert rock pioneer and his time in KYUSS is well-documented. What was it like to have him in your band and what can you share about your new drummer? Childs: “Alfredo joined Charles and I for AVON and we also kept our hand in playing with Chris as Persona Non Grata. Alfredo obviously contributed much with his unique machine-like style and has always been a pleasure to play with, but it was time to move on to a new era with AVON. That’s where Kyle comes in to play. He and I have played some serious big shows around the world together and I always like familiarity when it comes to musicians. He’s stoked at the opportunity to rock out with us. So yeah, I’m looking forward to many shows, a new album and see where the band grows!” Animation video for “Red Barn” from the LP Dave’s Dungeon using sketches from tour piecing together a story from the California Desert scene, it’s key players and venues during the mid-00’s. youtu.be/30cjesL6slM heavypsychsounds.com
BY MICHAEL FELCI
who I’ve worked with, I can’t really believe it.” CVW: “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” has become a standard. How do you feel about it being the soundtrack to weddings and other important life events? ADAMS: “It’s a magical song and it makes me happy to think that it has been a part of so many occasions that brought people together. It’s really everything you could ask for as a songwriter.” CVW: Have you seen Ron Howard’s documentary about Luciano Pavarotti? Can you tell us about performing “All for Love” with him in 1994? ADAMS: “I’ve not seen it, but working with him was a funny experience. The opening lyric in “All for Love” is, “WHEN it’s love you give…” Luciano kept singing “WHAT is love you give.” I tried to correct him in rehearsal a few times and remind him of the correct lyric, however it’s his way on the final performance. Our duet of “O Sole Mio” is where I really recall his sweet nature. I have many stories of Luciano, we became quite good friends and I miss him.” CVW: In addition to being an artist you’re a dedicated activist. Tell us about the Bryan Adams Foundation and its goals for the
MUSIC
future. ADAMS: “Lately, the tie-in with my tour partner DHL has been very exciting. This year we will plant a million trees, one for every ticket we’ve sold.” CVW: Shine A Light is your first studio album in four years, featuring the title track co-written with Ed Sheeran. Tell us about how the album came about? ADAMS: “In the past four years I’ve cowritten and produced two albums! The cast album, Pretty Woman: The Musical, and whenever I wasn’t working on the musical I was making the album Shine A Light and touring. Ed and I met when I was in Dublin, we stayed in touch and wrote the title song together while on tour.” CVW: Finally, what can your fans expect from your show at Fantasy Spings? ADAMS: “It’ll be a fun night of songs you know and love, and a few new ones when you can go and buy merch!” Bryan Adams performs at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino on Friday, September 13th at 8 p.m. Tickets are $59, $79, and $99, available at the Fantasy Springs Box Office, via phone (800) 827-2946 and online at www. FantasySpringsResort.com.
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CONSIDER THIS
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t’s not about blame or pointing fingers, it’s not about shame or pettiness/ It’s about finding good intentions in a misdirected mess, it’s about love and happiness, it’s about love and happiness.” That’s Those Pretty Wrongs gently reminding us to prioritize on the song “It’s About Love,” from their brand spanking new album, Zed For Zulu. Those Pretty Wrongs take their intriguing name from a Shakespeare sonnet. The duo are comprised of singer-songwriter, former Freewheelers front-man, producer, and all-around wunderkind Luther Russell and Jody Stephens, who gained fame as the drummer for Big Star, and later in the alt. country super group, Golden Smog. The latter, featured members of the Jayhawks, Soul Asylum and the Replacements, adopting Wilbury-esque pseudonyms. Jody has also spent decades behind the scenes as an integral part of Ardent Recording Studio in Memphis. For a certain segment of the population, Big Star is just as important as the Beatles, Bowie, or the Stones. Sadly, the Memphis four-piece, which also included Alex Chilton and Chris Bell on vocals and guitars, along with bassist Andy Hummel, was never properly appreciated in their own time. Between 1972 and 1978, they released three nearly perfect albums, #1 Record, Radio City and Third/Sister Lovers respectively, before calling it quits. Chris, who was the member most affected by their commercial failure, was working on his first solo when he was killed in a car crash. (It was posthumously released in 1992). A funny thing began happening in the ‘80s. At that point, Big Star was a group worshipped primarily by record store clerks and music critics. Although their albums were hard to come by, their music became a rite of passage for a discerning few. Shrouded in mythos, scraps of information about the band were passed around, along with taped copies of their records. Almost incomprehensibly, here was a brilliant American band, equal parts sunny and somber, erudite and accessible, that the music industry managed to throw away. Almost through osmosis, a Big Star renaissance was in the works. It began in 1986, when the Bangles covered “September Gurls” on their multi-platinum album, A Different Light. A year later the Replacements proudly declared their musical man-crush with their exuberant “Alex Chilton” song. Meanwhile, R.E.M. recorded their sixth long-player, Green, using the same mellotron Big Star employed on their third album. In 1992, Alex and Jody agreed to a oneoff concert as Big Star, augmented by Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow from the Seattle Power Pop/Punk combo, The Posies. (Andy Hummel declined to participate). By the end of the 20th century, they received their biggest exposure when Cheap Trick recorded a version of their “In The Street”
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FOR ZULU” THOSE PRETTY WRONGS “ZED (BURGER RECORDS) song as the theme for “That ‘70s Show.” Although Alex and Jody, along with Jon and Ken toured sporadically as Big Star and even recorded the 2005 album, Big Space, Jody maintained a 9 to 5 gig at Ardent, the hometown studio where they got their start, rising in the ranks to CEO. Unfortunately, on the eve of a showcase at SXSW in 2010, Alex suffered a fatal heart attack. A few months later Andy lost his battle with cancer. Jody is now the sole surviving member. All these facts are presented in more poignant and elegant terms in the 2012 documentary, “Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me.” Luther came from a wildly successful musical family and grew up on the California Coast between Carmel and Big Sur. He jump-started his own musical career by relocating to L.A. in his late teens. Since the late ‘80s, he has successfully toggled between playing in bands like the Bootheels (which included Jakob Dylan), the Freewheelers and Federale, as well as nurturing a rich solo career and working as an in-demand producer. Jody and Luther met in the early ‘90s, but didn’t begin playing together until a few years ago. The pair first collaborated when Jody was asked to perform a few Big Star songs at select screenings of the Big Star documentary. He asked Luther to join him on guitar. Subsequently, they began writing their own songs. Not long after, they retreated to Ardent Studios to record. They even managed to incorporate the late Chris Bell’s guitars on several tracks. Signed to Burger Records, Those Pretty Wrongs released a 7” single in 2015 and followed up a year later with their selftitled debut. They treated it as a one-off, with Jody returning to his duties at Ardent. Luther found time to co-produce Weezer’s 2016 album, work with Robyn Hitchcock, concentrate on curating Selective Memories, a career overview, along with writing and recording his sixth solo effort, Medium Cool, which arrived this year to rapturous reviews. Somehow, the pair managed to find time to sketch out a few songs and ended up with a complete 10 track album, mysteriously entitled Zed For Zulu. The record opens with the summery shimmer of “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight.” Plangent acoustic riffs lattice over a fluttery string section that is by turns blithe and bittersweet. Jody’s wistful tenor is clouded with regret and shaded by Luther’s symbiotic harmonies. As the first verse reaches out to a damaged soul; “You’ve been beaten down, down again, and you’ve been lost without a friend…” the final verse offers a bit of emotional rescue; “Close your eyes for a moment, you know you’re not alone, remember I miss you, so call me on the phone.” Several songs here offer something on an aural banquet. The Folk-flavored “Time To Fly” is initially powered by iridescent acoustic guitars and Jody’s warm vocals. Luther chimes in and by the bridge the
BY ELENI P. AUSTIN
arrangement is fleshed out by a clip-clop gait, mournful electric guitar and ticklish toy piano. Lyrics, which are spartan and spiritual (without becoming preachy or didactic), simply urge us to “Put our faith in how we feel.” The snap, crackle and pop! Of “You And Me” is achieved when honeyed acoustic licks ebb and flow over the first verse. Rather quickly, a propulsive rhythm kicks in and electric guitars trace over acoustic notes. A simple declaration of love, the lyrics are sweet, but never syrupy; “When nighttime falls as soft as a feather, when daylight breaks we’ll put it back together/ When hope is lost and nothing is gained, you wonder why but can’t explain, I’ll be there with you.” The bridge is irresistibly Beatlesque, adding the not-so-oblique “Revolver” reference; “mad about you and your bird can sing.” The gauzy grace of “Day In The Park” matches spiraling acoustic arpeggios with lush harmonies; accelerating slightly, a dropped beat and feathery electric guitar wash over, the hi-hats tinkling with anticipation. Something of a cosmic exhale, lyrics wax rhapsodic as a “sun spills into hues of yellows, reds and blues.” There’s a pastoral quality here that recalls the classic Simon & Garfunkel track, “Punky’s Dilemma” and “SMiLE” era Beach Boys. The action slows for “Life Below Zero,” a hopeful meditation on grief presented in ¾ time. Strummy acoustic guitar intertwines with high lonesome electric riffs as subtle keys wash over the melody. The song is suffused in sorrow, but the lyrics reveal a glimmer of hope; “Heartbreak or happy, I never got to choose, all set for lonely with nothing left to lose…then there was you, then there was you.” The sounds of the ‘60s are alive and well on a couple of tracks, “Ain’t Nobody But Me” and “The Carousel.” The former is anchored by jingle-jangle Byrdsy 12-string guitar, angular bass, flowery keys and a rock-steady beat. Concealed inside this sunny melody are lyrics whose compassion and empathy shine through; “When I was just the age of teens, I had no voice and I had no means/Doors were closed with broken keys, I’d call you up, ain’t nobody but me.” The latter is hushed and brilliantly Baroque. It opens with fleet acoustic
filigrees, as electric guitars ring and phase over obsidian keys and a tick-tock beat. Lyrics manage the neat trick of looking back with regret, yet looking forward with pragmatism; “As I glance behind, I see footprints in the path that I have made everyday/Fickle hopes and false steps, some will last and some will fade away.” For the Rolling Stones, it was just a shout away. For Those Pretty Wrongs, once you step on life’s endless carousel, it’s all just a dream away. Other interesting tracks include “Hurricane Of Love” which blends ye olde British balladry, dour and slightly downcast that is momentarily uplifted by a Klezmerific clarinet solo. Undertow is wildly ambitious, employing a Vaudeville/Music Hall-style melody accented by barrelhouse piano, rustic banjo runs and a buoyant back-beat. Jody’s vocal delivery channels the sly, subversive charms of Nilsson and Luther’s beatific “ahhh’s” have a Fab Four heft. The album closes with the aforementioned “It’s About Love.” Quicksilver acoustic riffs cascade over an effervescent melody. Salted in the mix are wily bass lines, serpentine guitar, spectral keys and a pounding rhythm. The lyrics provide a conscious counterpoint to these fractious times, discreetly taking aim at the cowardly despot-in-chief, a carnival huckster who has managed to dumb-down the national conversation. Much as the Youngbloods wanted us to “Get Together” more than half a century ago, Those Pretty Wrongs remind us “It’s not about walls to separate, or ways we can humiliate, it’s not about views that isolate or hopes and fears that suffocate/It’s not about blame or pointing fingers, not about shame or pettiness, it’s how we can find an easiness to forgive and get togetherness and make a pledge of love and happiness.” AMEN. Recorded in Los Angeles and engineered at Ardent in Memphis, Jody and Luther played pretty much everything on the record. Notable exceptions are backing vocals from Danny De La Matyr, a clarinet solo from Jim Spake and a string section (wo)manned by Leah Peroutka, Aubrey Kessel and Leah Gibson. The string arrangement is courtesy Chris Stamey, infamous solo artist, ex-db and lifelong Big Star acolyte. The enigmatic Zed For Zulu was the result of an overly complicated transatlantic phone call. While their debut felt mostly happy-golucky, Zed For Zulu is steeped in autumnal ache. Of course, Big Star goodness is baked right into the musical DNA, and Luther adds his perspicacious sense of songcraft. But mostly, he cedes the spotlight to Jody. The result is something of a musical panacea, guiding us through these dark days.
BREAKING THE4TH WALL
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BY DEE JAE COX
WHAT’S OPENING ON THE DESERT STAGES FOR THE 2019/20 SEASON?
PERSONAL PROFILE
adult life. Schenkelberg shares a glimpse behind the velvet curtain of this strangely hilarious and unbelievably horrifying story of loss, isolation, manipulation and the relentless power of survival through persistance and humor. • Green Room Theatre Co. ("Readers Theatre" beginning in October) (greenroomtheatrecompany.org) Green Room’s tenth season continues with a lineup of Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway dramas featuring many of the desert’s finest adult actors and directors. The regular season begins in October with recent Pulitzer Prize winner Sweat, by Lynn Nottage, followed in November by Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive and then August Wilson’s Fences during February for Black History Month. • Palm Canyon Theatre (palmcanyontheatre.org) Peter Pan (The Musical) - Sep 20 - 29, 2019 Peter Pan tells the classic J.M. Barrie tale of a young boy who refuses to grow up. Peter Pan is a story that is filled with magic, delight, and just a fairy dusting of heartbreak. • Sun City - Mountainview Clubhouse (tickets760-797-5305) Sexy Widows – by June August. Oct. 25, 26 & 27, 2019 “Sexy Widows” centers on two widows and two widowers who bond through a musical journey of recovery. Comedy, drama and song bring hope while providing lots of laughs. • Theatre 29 (theatre29.org) Mission Improvable - Sep. 14, 2019 Get your jetpacks and exploding pens ready as the Baker’s Dozen salutes the world of espionage and covert shenanigans. Be sure there will be plenty of riffs off of James Bond, Jason Bourne and Austin Powers, to name just a few famous spies. Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman. Oct. 4-27, 2019 A deviously delicious Broadway and Hollywood sci-fi smash musical, Little Shop Of Horrors has devoured the hearts of theatre goers for over 30 years. The meek floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant he names “Audrey II” - after his coworker crush. This foul-mouthed, R&B-singing carnivore promises unending fame and fortune to the down and out Krelborn as long as he keeps feeding it, BLOOD. See You at the Theatre! Dee Jae Cox is a playwright, director and producer. She is the Cofounder and Artistic Director of The Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Project. losangeleswomenstheatreproject.org palmspringstheatre.com
BY CRYSTAL HARRELL
SITE SAVVY: CASEY DOLAN
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elcome to the 2019/20 Season of theatre in the Coachella Valley. Time to fill the desert nights with song, drama, laughter and plenty of brilliant performances. Take a look at the Opening shows and then visit the theatre websites for information on the shows that will follow in this exciting new season. • Coachella Valley Repertory (cvrep.org) DINNER WITH FRIENDS - by Donald Margulies. Nov. 6 – Nov. 24, 2019 The complexities of marriage and friendship are examined with wit and intelligence in Dinner with Friends, Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize-winning 1998 play about two married couples who have been friends for many years. • College of the Desert At the McCallum Theatre for the Performing Arts. 760-340-ARTS or visit mccallumtheatre.com. The Addams Family: A New Musical Comedy Oct. 24, 25, 26 & 27, 2019 Just in time for Halloween, the College of the Desert Performing Arts presents THE ADDAMS FAMILY, a family-friendly comical feast that embraces the wackiness in every family. It features an original story, every father’s nightmare, Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love. • Desert Ensemble Theatre Company (detctheatre.org) On the Twenty-First Century - Oct. 25–26, 2019 DETC’s Ninth Season begins with its signature Season Opening musical revue, which is a benefit for the company’s Theatre Internship Program and Scholarship Fund. On the Twenty-First Century features songs from Broadway musicals that debuted in the past 20 years. Featuring some of the area’s most popular musical theater performers. • Desert Rose Playhouse (desertroseplayhouse.org) Robbie Wayne - A Tribute to George Michael - Sep 14, 2019 Join Robbie Wayne and friends for this one-ofa-kind musical tribute dedicated to the amazing career and often surprising life of the late George Michael. From his humble beginnings in North London of the early 60’s to becoming one of the best selling musical artists of all time. • The Improvables of the Desert Laughing OUT Loud - Sep 28, 2019 A hilarious evening of laughter, fun and improv comedy. A benefit for the LGBT Center of the Desert. • Desert Theatre Works (dtworks.org) SAVANNAH SIPPING SOCIETY - by Jamie Wooten, Jessie Jones, and Nicholas Hope. Sep. 6 22, 2019 In this delightful, laugh-a-minute comedy, four unique Southern women all needing to escape their day-to-day routines are drawn together by an impromptu happy hour. They decide it’s high time to reclaim their enthusiasm for life. Over the course of six months, fueled by laughter, hilarious misadventures and the occasional liquid refreshment, these women successfully bond and find the confidence to jump-start their own new lives. • DezArt Performs (dezartperforms.org) SQUEEZE MY CANS by Cathy Schenkelberg. Oct. 7 & 8, 2019 Cathy Schenkelberg’s explosive one-woman show is more than just an audition to be Tom Cruise’s girlfriend. It is a trip down a volcanic rabbit hole. The Church of Scientology had the actress Cathy Schenkelberg for 14 years of her young,
September 5 to September 11, 2019
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quipped with experience in digital marketing, website design, and a unique sense of humor to boot, Casey Dolan is a jack of all trades when it comes to Coachella Valley media. His most notable escapades include helping local businesses with marketing campaigns, founding the popular Cactus Hugs news website, and acting as an ALT 101.5 radio host. Dolan has not always called the desert his home. Born in Long Beach, he relocated to Big Bear during his youth. He eventually moved to the Coachella Valley in 1998. “I froze every winter and water skied every summer [in Big Bear] until I just couldn’t take shoveling snow any more at 3 a.m. in order to get to my morning radio job and announce if school was snowed out or not,” said Dolan. He later attended a total of six junior colleges, including College of the Desert, before receiving a degree in business from the Cal State San Bernardino, Palm Desert Campus. Dolan now lives with his wife Kristen along with their two cats, Wally and Tiki. Despite the scorching temperatures, he loves to take in the stunning views in the Coachella Valley. “There are times when you are just running errands or whatever and you look at the sunset with all the colors over the mountains and you just get that feeling of wonder and amazement that you actually get to live in this place,” stated Dolan. In 2014, Dolan founded the Cactus Hugs website, which sees between four and five million page views a year. Its creation was spurred by a change both he and his wife experienced after getting fired from a radio show they did together six years ago before Christmas. “We came to the wise conclusion that radio just wasn’t what it used to be and it wasn’t going to give us any stability or enough income to buy things like food and shelter, so we each went into other career paths. Kristen now makes the world a better place in the non-profit sector. Meanwhile I found that the Coachella Valley, while flooded with
all kinds of media outlets, didn’t really have what Cactus Hugs is today—which, I hope anyway, is an honest conversation about local topics that isn’t just all pandering to advertisers, the visitor’s bureau, and the snow birds,” explained Dolan. Dolan’s afternoon radio show on Alt. 101.5 is also a hit with desert listeners, infusing music and his charismatic personality to the airwaves. “The music is great, the staff has been very nice to me, and I don’t have to wake up at 3 a.m. to do it. It’s a win-win. I never want to wake up at 3 a.m. for a job ever again,” said Dolan. When he’s not running one of the most successful websites in the Coachella Valley and hosting a popular radio show, Dolan also has a consulting business where he helps local businesses with their websites and online marketing. He considers this the most fulfilling part of his day. “There are so many things a small business can do online to reach their dreams and goals. Seeing that happen for them is just the best,” expressed Dolan. Outside of his professional pursuits, Dolan enjoys hiking with his wife at the top of the Tram, watching movies, and completing various projects for their recently-purchased fixer-upper home. In terms of a personal role model, he cites Billy Beane, the General Manager of the Oakland A’s and subject of the bestselling book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. “This is a guy who worked his way up the ladder to General Manager—a job in which he totally transformed an industry that refused to change for over 100 years. This is a guy who was faced with the huge challenges of running a small-market baseball team that should’ve never been able to compete, and he made his club competitive by getting creative and by not being afraid to adapt to a changing market. So many businesses keep doing the same thing and expect different results,” explained Dolan. A key piece of advice that Dolan promotes is to take more chances without fearing failure, as more is learned from failures than from successes. “If you would have asked me what I saw myself doing years ago, I would have never guessed I would be where I am now, but I wouldn’t change anything,” said Dolan. cactushugs.com
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PET PLACE
ogs have an incredible ability to detect odors way beyond our human capacity. They possess more than 25 times the number of scent receptors than humans, boosting their smelling ability by 100,000 times. Dogs are used to detect drugs and explosives in airports, they help our military in combat locate land mines, and they work valiantly in search and recovery efforts to find missing people guided by their incredible sense of smell. Now research shows they can play a significant role in sniffing out one of the most insidious human diseases - - cancer. Dogs are able to smell the different metabolic waste products that are released by cancerous cells. Anecdotes abound about canines that sense when their owner has this serious illness. Many of these stories have a similarity in that a dog became acutely interested in a certain targeted area of their human’s body. Before the medical professionals diagnosed my sister-in-law with breast cancer, her dog Danny began laying close by her side and breast area, a shift in behavior that was not understood at the time. During Deanna’s long illness, this sweet Spaniel became a constant comfort, arching his body around her as she lay in her hospital bed. Dina Zaphiris, a Los Angeles dog trainer and medical scent detection expert, trains dogs to smell cancer. She explains their
MEET MILLIE Smart, loyal, and lovable, Millie is eager to please humans. This gorgeous 4-yr-old Pit Bull Terrier girl learns quickly, and would do well in a home that can provide training. Millie is dog ID#A1540377. Meet her at the Coachella Valley Animal Campus shelter, 72-050 Pet Land Place, Thousand Palms, www.rcdas.org, (760) 343-3644.
MEET VANILLIE Vanillie peers out at potential adopters hoping one of them will take her home soon! This playful 4-mo-old female kitten, rescued by foreverMeow.org, promises to entertain you with her antics. Come meet this precious Tuxedo kitten at Petco in Palm Desert. Call (760) 355-6767 for more info.
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DOGS DETECTING CANCER
unique connection to helping people, “Dogs and humans co-evolved, very few species have done that, and our survival depended on each other. Dogs can smell things in parts per trillion. For example, they can smell one drop of blood diluted in 20 Olympic swimming pools.” Research underway at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine is leading to a breakthrough using dogs to detect ovarian cancer. This cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in women, and currently no effective screening exists for its detection. The dogs are exposed to tissue and blood samples from healthy individuals and those with ovarian cancer, receiving a reward when they alert on the cancer sample. One of the dogs in the study, a Labrador, detected the ovarian cancer sample 100 percent of the time. In another study, dogs were able to detect with 99 percent accuracy whether a breath sample is from a patient with lung or breast cancer. They can detect skin cancer melanoma by simply sniffing the skin lesions. The day is coming when dogs’ scent abilities become an accepted cancer screening method in the medical community. Imagine that one day doctors will be able to take breath samples during routine physical exams, and send them to a lab for testing by dogs for cancer screening.
Scientists may soon ask, which is the better cancer detector - - - a laboratory or a Labrador? Some medical specialists believe dogs will be integrated directly into patient care, while others recommend confining their skills to laboratories. Not to be outdone, some cats may have the ability to detect cancer. Best Friends Animal Society reports their fluffy white cat Leo, adopted by Barbara Bowman, might have saved her life. The new cat always enjoyed sitting on Barbara’s lap, but suddenly he began pawing at the same area on one of her breasts. This prompted her to schedule a mammogram which confirmed stage three
BY JANET McAFEE breast cancer. Barbara gratefully explains, “I never would have noticed the lump if it weren’t for Leo!” Animal lovers already know that a wonderful dog in your home keeps you happier and heathier, reducing ailments ranging from depression to high blood pressure. Now we are learning of yet another way these marvelous creatures save human lives with their instinct, intelligence and sensory abilities. Janetmcafee8@gmail.com
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THE VINO VOICE
ne of the special features you’ll find in any given issue of the popular wine publication Wine Spectator is the “news/food & travel/ people/collecting” section called simply “GrapeVine”. It’s always a quick read and often brings those of us, who snoop around wine and stuff, up to speed. In a column therein, writer Lexi Williams titled her piece “Five Wine and Health Myths, Debunked”. It’s been a while since our resident wine doctor (that’ll be me with my J.D. degree) has offered his two cents in any valued discussion; so we thought we’d also explore these wine and health myths that keep circulating in an out every decade: A Glass of Wine is a Good Sleep Aid: I have more than a few friends who are in the habit of enjoying a glass of wine just before bed. In this sense, I’m referring to sleep and not the more rigorous nighttime activity. At night, there’s no question that drinking wine can make you feel sleepy. Williams writes, “Thanks to alcohol’s sedative effects, a tipple before hitting the hay will help you fall asleep faster, and there is even evidence that some wine grapes contain high amounts of the sleep aid melatonin.” But as many of us find, that sleep is less likely to be restful and restorative. Personally, at home, I find that the latest
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September 5 to September 11, 2019
SO YOU HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
time I can enjoy a glass of wine is around 9pm. If I drink sometime thereafter and fall asleep, chances are I’ll awake around 1am or so and will have to try to go back to sleep. It’s an odd time to catch up on one’s reading but there you go. A published journal study in 2015 confirmed that after a wine-tinged deep sleep event, sleep disruption and awake time will probably follow. Alcohol Kills Brain Cells: We’ve always heard that one and it’s pretty dramatic. Ethanol (the kind of alcohol found in wine) can be harmful to body cells, but fortunately our body has ways of processing it before permanent damage can occur. Williams writes, “Heavy drinking can damage dendrites, which are parts of nerve cells, or neurons that carry messages within the brain.” It’s believed that the damage is reversible. Of course, the bad news is that with prolonged heavy drinking all bets are off; it’s risky living, so proceed with absolute caution. Sulfites Cause Headaches and Hangovers: Sulfites are always getting hit in the consumer wine game. We know they’re naturally occurring in the wine making process and most winemakers also add supplemental sulfites to help protect against spoilage. Sulfites are frequently
BY RICK RIOZZA
blamed for headaches and hangovers. Williams writes, “According to the FDA, only 1% of the population is sensitive to sulfites, meaning those folks so sensitive may experience skin irritation, stomach pain and asthmatic symptoms. These are signs of an allergic reaction not a hangover.” The FDA goes on to state that with the reported problems, it’s really the amount of wine consumed in the body, and, dehydration issues. I’ve covered many organic and biosustainable wines and wineries in this column. Most wine folks report they feel a lot better when enjoying the minimal invasive wine process. I believe it’s the pesticides and toxic herbicides that cause the health problems, which is why we like the organic and sustainability wine making. Red Wine is Healthier than White Wine: This is a subject that proves too many people have too much time on their hand. Of course we know grapes and wine provide proven health benefits with all the polyphenols and resveratrol and the like in the skins and about the wine. Can’t red wine and white wine drinkers all just get along?--who has to be better? It’s always been the adage that red wine
is good for the body, and white wine is good for the head. Champagne and all its bubbles is one great stimulant; and I’ll do a Sauv Blanc at the end of a wine trade tasting when I need some invigorating energy. While enjoying some guitar practice in the evening, if I wish to get into some lively and innovative playing, a white wine will do; if I’m going for more the mellow tone, please pour me a red. Men and Women React the Same to Alcohol: Williams offers: “A women standing 5-feet, 9-inches and weighing 160 pounds should be able to process three glasses of wine consumed over a threehour period identically to a man of the same proportions, right? Wrong. What about those days when the swashbucklers of old, campaigning aboard the buccaneer galleons, swigged down pints of Caribbean rum. I’m certain there were many different levels of drunkenness about the crew. So why would we ever think men and women would share the same sensibilities when drinking? Williams confirms “that alcohol affects women and men differently. This is why the USDA Dietary Guidelines recommend up to two drinks a day for men and up to only one for women. “We’ve all been told that body size plays a big role in the way alcohol affects us, and this is true. But it also has to do with our chemical makeup, which differs between men and women. “Women have less alcohol dehydrogenase activity than men, meaning they’re unable to process the same amount of alcohol before it reaches the bloodstream. This means women generally grow more intoxicated more quickly than men.” We men actually know this already; for come St. Valentine’s Day, candy is dandy— but liquor is quicker! (in the best sense of course!) Cheers!
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THUR SEPTEMBER 5
19TH HOLE; PD; 760-772-6696 TBA 5-8pm 29 PALMS INN; 29 Palms; 760-367-3505 Bobby Furgo & Co 6pm ACE HOTEL; PS; 760-325-9900 Mr. Goodboy 9pm AJ’S ON THE GREEN; C.C.; 760-202-1111 Bill and Doug Duo 6:30pm BART LOUNGE; C.C.; 760-799-8800 DJs EZ Werk and Taxi 7pm BERNIE’S; RM; 760-202 4499 Kristi King Trio w/ Brian Dennigan and Leon Bisquera 6:30-10pm BLUEMBER; RM; 760-862-4581 John Stanley King 6-10pm THE CASCADE LOUNGE, AGUA CALIENTE; RM; 888-999-1995 Ladies Night w/ Bianca from 92.7 9pm CASTELLI’S; PD; 760-773-3365 Patrick Tuzzolino 5:30pm CASUELAS CAFÉ; PD; 760-568-0011 Johnny Meza and Co. 6-10pm CATALAN; RM; 760-770-9508 George Christian 6-9pm CHEF GEORGE’S PICASSO LOUNGE; PD; 760-200-1768 Michael D’Angelo 6:309:30pm, DJ 9:30pm COPA NIGHTCLUB; PS; 760-866-0021 MOD Squad Variety Show w/ Francesca Amari, Jeff Stewart and Wayne Abravanel 5:30-7:30pm, Lipstick hosted by Bella Da Ball 8pm, DJs Banks and Ax 10pm EUREKA; IW; 760-834-7700 Live Music 8-10pm
FISHERMAN’S GROTTO; PD; 760-7766534 Barry Baughn Blues Band 5:308:30pm HENRY’S SPORTS BAR AND GRILL; CC; 760-656-3444 DJ 10pm THE HOOD; PD; 760-636-5220 Red’s Rockstar Karaoke 9pm HOODOO COCKTAIL GARDEN @ THE HYATT; PS; 760-322-9000 Chris Lomeli 7pm HOTEL PASEO; PD; TBA 4-7pm LANDMARK LOUNGE; LQ; 760-289-6736 Lisa LaFaro 7pm LA QUINTA RESORT; LQ; 760-564-4111 Steppin Out 6-9pm LAS CASUELAS TERRAZA; PS; 760-3252794 Hot Roxx 6:30pm LIT@FANTASY SPRINGS; IND; 760-3452450 Country Night w/ Country Nation 9pm MASTRO’S; PD; 760-776-6777 Finesse 6:30-10:30pm MELVYN’S RESTAURANT & LOUNGE; PS; 760-325-2323 Ron Greenip 8pm NEIL’S LOUNGE; IND; 760-347-1522 Karaoke 8pm THE NEST; PD; 760-346-2314 Kevin Henry 6-8pm Tim Burleson 8pm PAPPY & HARRIET’S; PT; 760-365-5956 Sam Morrow 8pm PLAN B LIVE ENTERTAINMENT AND COCKTAILS; TP; 760-343-2115 TBA 9pm SAMMY G’s; PS; 760-320-8041 Evaro Brothers 7:30pm SHANGHAI RED’S @ THE FISHERMAN’S MARKET; PS; 760-322-9293 VooDoo Hustlers 7pm STACY’S; PS; 760-620-5003 Matt Coleman 7pm TACK ROOM TAVERN; IND; 760-3479985 Karaoke 8pm WANG’S; PS; 760-325-9264 Trio Envy 5-8pm
FRI SEPTEMBER 6
12
19TH HOLE; PD; 760-772-6696 Wyldsky 8pm 29 PALMS INN; 29 Palms; 760-367-3505 Wonder People 6:30pm ACE HOTEL; PS; 760-325-9900 DJ noon poolside, Desert Daze Nights 10pm AGAVE LOUNGE@THE HYATT REGENCY; IW; 760-674-4080 Avenida 7-11pm AJ’S ON THE GREEN; C.C.; 760-202-1111 Live Music 6:30pm BART LOUNGE; C.C.; 760-799-8800 Omen w/ Sugarfree, Femme A, Bvrrn and more 7pm BERNIE’S; RM; 760-202 4499 Parick Morris, Brian Dennigan and Leon Bisquera 6:30-10pm BIG ROCK PUB; IND; 706-200-8988 Flashback Boyz 8:30pm BLUEMBER; RM; 760-862-4581 The Stanley Butler Trio 6-10pm THE CASCADE LOUNGE, SPA RESORT CASINO; PS; 888-999-1995 DJ Chase Martinez 9pm
CASTELLI’S; PD; 760-773-3365 Patrick Tuzzolino 5:30pm CASUELAS CAFÉ; PD; 760-568-0011 The Myx 6:30-10pm CATALAN; RM; 760-770-9508 George Christian 6-9pm CHEF GEORGE’S PICASSO LOUNGE; PD; 760-200-1768 Michael D’Angelo 6:309:30pm, DJ 9:30pm COACHELLA BAR; Coachella; 760-5419034 TBA 9pm COPA NIGHTCLUB; PS; 760-866-0021 Viva Friday’s w/ DJ Banks 9pm DESERT FOX; PD; Courtney Chambers 9pm, Lance Riebsomer 11pm DRINGK; RM; 760-888-0111 DJ 9pm ELECTRIC SPORTS LOUNGE; YV; 760228-1199 DJ Ceddy Cedd 9pm EL MEXICALI CAFÉ 2; IND; 760-342-2333 Cesar Daniel Lopez on the harp 6-9pm FISHERMAN’S GROTTO; PD; 760-7766534 Gina Carey 5:30-8:30pm FRANK’S PLACE; IW; 760-797-8700 Rebecca Clark 6-9pm GADI’S BAR & GRILL; YV; 760-820-1213 TBA 8pm HENRY’S SPORTS BAR AND GRILL; CC; 760-656-3444 Karaoke w/ KJ Marjovi 9pm THE HOOD; PD; 760-636-5220 Drag Queen Bingo 6pm, Gateway Comedy Show 8pm, House DJ 10pm HOODOO COCKTAIL GARDEN @ THE HYATT; PS; 760-322-9000 Keisha D 7pm HOTEL PASEO; PD; Michael Keeth 6-9pm HOT SPOT@SPOTLIGHT 29; Coachella; 760-775-5566 Adrian Crush 8:30pm INDIAN WELLS RESORT HOTEL; IW; 760345-6466 Bob Allen 6pm JOSHUA TREE SALOON; JT; 760-3662250 Karaoke w/ Troy Michaels 7pm KOKOPELLI’S; YV; 760-228-2589 Karaoke 8pm LANDMARK LOUNGE; LQ; 760-289-6736 Various Artists 7pm LA QUINTA BREWERY; PD; 760-2002597 TBA 7pm LA QUINTA RESORT; LQ; 760-564-4111 Steppin Out 6-9pm LAS CASUELAS TERRAZA; PS; 760-3252794 Hot Roxx 7:30pm LE FE WINE BAR; PD; 760-565-1430 TBA 9:30pm LIT@FANTASY SPRINGS; IND; 760-3452450 Champagne band 9pm MASTRO’S; PD; 760-776-6777 TBA 6:3011pm MELVYN’S RESTAURANT & LOUNGE; PS; 760-325-2323 Ron Greenip 8pm MIRAMONTE; IW; 760-341-2200 Trio Envy 5-9pm MOXIE; PS; 760-318-9900 Eevaan Tre 6-9pm, DJ Pedro Le Bass 9:30pm NEIL’S LOUNGE; IND; 760-347-1522 Karaoke 8-1:15am THE NEST; PD; 760-346-2314 Kevin Henry 6-8pm Tim Burleson 8pm O’CAINES; RM; 760-202-3311 DJ Tone 10pm
www.coachellavalleyweekly.com PLAN B LIVE ENTERTAINMENT AND COCKTAILS; TP; 760-3432115 Red’s Rockstar Karaoke 9pm RED BARN; PD; 760-346-0191 TBA 9pm ROCKYARD@FANTASY SPRINGS; IND; 760-345-2450 Steel Rod and Led Zepagain (Led Zeppelin Tribute) 7:30pm SAMMY G’s; PS; 760-320-8041 Evaro PALM CANYON ROADHOUSE; PS; 760- CASCADE LOUNGE, SPA RESORT Brothers 8:30pm CASINO; PS; 888-999-1995 DJ Michael 327-4080 TBA 9pm SHANGHAI RED’S @ THE FISHERMAN’S Wright 9pm PAPPY & HARRIET’S; PT; 760-365-5956 MARKET; PS; 760-322-9293 Barry CASTELLI’S; PD; 760-773-3365 Patrick Kristin Hersh and Fred Abong 8pm Baughn Blues Band 8-11pm Tuzzolino 5:30pm PEABODY’S CAFÉ; PS; 760-322-1877 CASUELAS CAFÉ; PD; 760-568-0011 The SHANGHAI RED’S @ THE FISHERMAN’S Karaoke 7:30pm MARKET; LQ; 760-777-1601 The Smooth Myx 6:30-10pm PLAN B LIVE ENTERTAINMENT AND Brothers 8-11pm CATALAN; RM; 760-770-9508 George COCKTAILS; TP; 760-343-2115 Red’s SHELLY’S LOUNGE@TORTOISE ROCK Christian 6-9pm Rockstar Karaoke 9pm CASINO; 29 Palms; Rojer Arnold & Bobby CHEF GEORGE’S PICASSO LOUNGE; PD; Furgo 9pm RED BARN; PD; 760-346-0191 J and the 760-200-1768 Abie and Natasha 6:30Sundawgs 9pm SONOMA GRILLE@EMBASSY SUITES; 9:30pm, DJ 9:30pm RENAISSANCE; PS; 760-322-6000 Live PD; 760-340-6600 Denny Pezzin 6-9pm COACHELLA VALLEY BREWING CO; Music 6-9pm SOUL OF MEXICO; IND; 760-200-8787 TP; 760-343-5973 Mario Quintero, Cody RIVIERA; PS; 760-327-8311 Michael Latin Music 10pm White and the Easy Ride and Black Water Keeth 8-11pm STACY’S; PS; 760-620-5003 Jessica Gospel 6-9pm SAMMY G’s; PS; 760-320-8041 Evaro Bridgeman 8pm COPA NIGHTCLUB; PS; 760-866-0021 DJ Brothers 8:30pm TACK ROOM TAVERN; IND; 760-347SHANGHAI RED’S @ THE FISHERMAN’S Banks and Mr. Miami 9pm 9985 Hotwyre 9pm DRINGK; RM; 760-888-0111 DJ 9pm MARKET; PS; 760-322-9293 Barry TRILUSSA ITALIAN RISTORANTE; PS; ELECTRIC SPORTS LOUNGE; YV; 760Baughn Blues Band 8-11pm 760-328-2300 Julius & Sylvia Music Duo 228-1199 DJ Ceddy Cedd 9pm SHANGHAI RED’S @ THE FISHERMAN’S 6-10pm MARKET; LQ; 760-777-1601 The Smooth EN VIVO@SPOTLIGHT 29; Coachella; THE VINE WINE BAR; PD; 760-341-9463 760-775-5566 Banda Reyna Del Valle Brothers 8-11pm Fun with Dick and Jane Band 7-10pm 9:30pm SHELLY’S LOUNGE@TORTOISE ROCK WANG’S; PS; 760-325-9264 Live Music CASINO; 29 Palms; Rojer Arnold & Bobby FISHERMAN’S GROTTO; PD; 760-7766:30pm 6534 Jack Ruvio 5:30-8:30pm Furgo 9pm WESTIN; RM; 760-328-5955 Michael FRANK’S PLACE; IW; 760-797-8700 SOLANO’S BISTRO; LQ; 760-771-6655 Keeth 6-10pm Rebecca Clark 6-9pm Michael Madden 6-9pm GADI’S BAR & GRILL; YV; 760-820-1213 WOODY’S PALMHOUSE; PS; 760-230SONOMA GRILLE@EMBASSY SUITES; 0188 The Stanley Butler Band 6:30pm TBA 8pm PD; 760-340-6600 Denny Pezzin 6-9pm continue to page 18 HENRY’S SPORTS BAR AND GRILL; CC; SOUL OF MEXICO; IND; 760-200-8787 760-656-3444 DJ Ray 9pm Latin Rock 10pm STACY’S; PS; 760-620-5003 Krystofer Do THE HOOD; PD; 760-636-5220 The Hood of Doom w/ Stygian Crow, Ninetail Wolf, 4:30-7pm, Mark Lee 8pm etc. 9pm TACK ROOM TAVERN; IND; 760-347HOODOO COCKTAIL GARDEN @ THE 9985 RNR Duo Show 9pm HYATT; PS; 760-322-9000 The Carmens TRILUSSA ITALIAN RISTORANTE; PS; 7pm 760-328-2300 Julius & Sylvia Music Duo HOT SPOT@SPOTLIGHT 29; Coachella; 6-10pm THE VINE WINE BAR; PD; 760-341-9463 760-775-5566 Adrian Crush 8:30pm INDIAN WELLS RESORT HOTEL; IW; 760Vinny Berry 7-10pm 345-6466 Bob Allen 6pm WANG’S; PS; 760-325-9264 DJ Galaxy KOKOPELLI’S; YV; 760-228-2589 5pm Karaoke 8pm WOODY’S PALMHOUSE; PS; 760-230LANDMARK LOUNGE; LQ; 760-289-6736 0188 Tony Grandberry 6:30pm Eevaan Tre 7pm LAS CASUELAS TERRAZA; PS; 760-3252794 PS Sound Company 1pm, Hot Roxx 8pm TH 19 HOLE; PD; 760-772-6696 Rob LIT@FANTASY SPRINGS; IND; 760-345Martinez 8pm 29 PALMS INN; 29 Palms; 760-367-3505 2450 Champagne Band 9pm MELVYN’S RESTAURANT & LOUNGE; Bev and Bill 6:30pm PS; 760-325-2323 Ron Greenip 8pm ACE HOTEL; PS; 760-325-9900 Dublab MIRAMONTE; IW; 760-341-2200 Trio Presents: Dayclubbing noon poolside, Envy 6-10pm Highlife w/ DJ Day 10pm MOXIE; PS; 760-318-9900 Derek Jordan AGAVE LOUNGE@THE HYATT Gregg 6-9pm, DJ Pedro Le Bass 9:30pm REGENCY; IW; 760-674-4080 Steppin’ Out 7-11pm NEIL’S LOUNGE; IND; 760-347-1522 AJ’S ON THE GREEN; C.C.; 760-202-1111 Karaoke 8pm Cabaret on the Green Open Mic 7:30pm THE NEST; PD; 760-346-2314 Kevin Henry 6-8pm Tim Burleson 8pm BART LOUNGE; C.C.; 760-799-8800 The Get Down w/ DJs Rich Brandon and O’CAINES; RM; 760-202-3311 DJ Tone CieloHigh 7pm 10pm BERNIE’S; RM; 760-202 4499 Horace PALM CANYON ROADHOUSE; PS; 760Miller, Brian Denigan and Leon Basquera 327-4080 Empty Seat, Krystofer Do and 6:30-10pm Friends 9pm BIG ROCK PUB; IND; 706-200-8988 PAPPY & HARRIET’S; PT; 760-365-5956 Ghost Notes 8:30pm Grateful Shred 8pm BLUEMBER; RM; 760-862-4581 Gina PEABODY’S CAFÉ; PS; 760-322-1877 Carey 6-10pm Karaoke 7:30pm
September 5 to September 11, 2019
SAT SEPTEMBER 7
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September 5 to September 11, 2019
THEPAMPEREDPALATE
I
t’s all around sushi fun, with attentive service and excellent fish creations, at Sushi-On in Indio. If you’re like me, you love sushi! I mean, can eat everyday kind of “love it” (sort of how I feel about Mexican food). As a result, I’m always eager to try out a new sushi spot. So when I kept hearing good things
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A GREAT TIME IS ON, AT SUSHI-ON!
about Sushi-On, I had to give it a go. Not to mention that this place is so close to where I live, which is a bonus! Sushi-On is led by Chef Bong Gu Hwang, with an emphasis on Izakaya style dining. Although it opened in 2017, it has that lived in feel, as if it has been established for much longer, which in my book provides a
BY DENISE ORTUNO
comfortable and inviting ambience. With a well situated sushi bar for seating, and dotted booths throughout the restaurant, Sushi-On gives their guests a pleasant landing to enjoy their fare. On my visit, my boyfriend and I took a seat at their sushi bar. It’s my go to place to sit at a sushi restaurant, as it gives me a front row seat to the Chefs precision, which I always find fascinating. Preparing sushi is truly an art form. Their seating at the bar is of medium proportion, with about eight seats give or take, and has several televisions for all of you sports fans to watch, in case the phenomenal Chefs, or your company bore you (not). After we ordered our essential beverages, a large Sapporo and large Hot Sake, we went for one of our favorite sushi items, Uni. Now, I know there are some of you who cringe at the thought of eating it, but for those of you who don’t, you know how incredible it can be, and the Uni at Sushi-On did not disappoint. It was like a
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silk pillow, infused with the essence of the ocean…amazing! The talented Chef Bella took care of us, answering any menu questions that we had, and delicately prepared our sushi requests. Besides the Uni, we also tried a variety of our other sushi faves, such as Tuna, Salmon and Yellowtail. Chef Bella gave us some off the menu creations to try, including off the chart Albacore sashimi, and a mixed Poke. We finished off our sushi adventure with what we consider sushi dessert, Unagi. Sushi-On offers a wide array of rolls to try as well, such as the Shooting Star (avocado, spicy crab, cucumber and tempura shrimp inside- tuna, avocado, green onion and masago outside) and Baked Lobster (avocado, cucumber, crab inside-langoustine, masago and green onion with sweet sauce outside) plus a many, many more. They also have traditional Japanese dishes including Teriyaki and Bowl selections, as well as other options. It was a pure delight dining at Sushi-On, with their attentive and friendly service, and of course their fantastic sushi. We will be back to see you very soon Chef Bella! Sushi-On is located at 44-100 Jefferson St., Indio CA, 92201 www.sushion.restaurant.com
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BREWTALITY
G
ood god almighty, trying to remember the waning, dark days of the no-fun 90’s is like an exercise in reliving past trauma. If you had to summarize the ghastliness of 1999, it would be with JNKO jeans, velour track suits, bucket hats, dudes with platinum frosted tips, chicks with blue sparkly eyeliner, and Puff Daddy ruling the charts despite having less talent than a Muppet in a Glad bag, dancing in front of a fish eye lens (or as you probably call her, Missy Elliot). People were paying money to see Limp Bizkit cover George Michael badly, George Michael was behaving badly in public bathrooms, and millennials were a bunch of high school aged derelicts getting “Girls Gone Wild” style wasted off of SMIRNOFF ICE for cremini’s sake. The meteoric rise and fall of Zima had shown the fledgling flavored-maltbeverage industry that the public was willing to embrace an alternative to beer and wine as long as it didn’t taste like it was made in the toilet tank of cellblock #9 (here’s looking at you, Zima), and didn’t look like something the un-coolest person you knew would be drinking. Using the same marketing and branding logo as found on Smirnoff vodka bottles, product familiarity helped Smirnoff Ice to garner a fanbase with women, college students, and eventually…bros. Sure-sure, Smirnoff Ice was an instant hit out the gate amongst people that liked the idea of alcohol flavored soda. The 4.5% ABV opaque treat had a cloyingly sweet, citrusy
September 5 to September 11, 2019
WHITE CLAW’S DADDY, PART II: SMIRNOFF ICING BROS flavor that tasted like Squirt with a medicinal kick. And despite the company rolling out Smirnoff Black in 2005 (a crystal clear, dry, 7% ABV incarnation of the semi-soft drink), the brand began its inevitable wane in popularity, being consumed pretty much only by insufferable bachelorette parties and people who listened to edgy music like Fallout Boy and Dashboard Confessional ( bands that could rot your sense of taste as quickly as Smirnoff rotted your guts) by the end of 1998. By this point, everyone had moved on to more liver-wrecking fare like Four Loko and Tilt, which at least gave you a solid headchange to go with the dreadful flavor. But in 2010, Smirnoff Ice was set for a comeback, when the advent of viral challenges turned the malternative beverage into a game called “Icing”. Apparently, drinking a Smirnoff Ice was so revolting and shameful that it became a drinking game (actually a hazing ritual, but I digress) around college campuses, apartment complexes, beer pong halls, and anywhere else bros are known to congregate in their waking hours. The rules of the game were simple; if you present someone with a Smirnoff Ice and announce, “You been Iced, bro!”, they must either block the challenge by having a Smirnoff Ice already on hand, or drop to a knee, and chug the entire bottle as given. Now, if the person presenting the Ice was blocked by another Ice, then he/she must be the one to instead drop to their knees, and
BY AARON RAMSON
chug BOTH bottles of Ice. While this was the basic gist, challenging someone with an Ice at extremely inopportune moments became the point. Running late for meetings, studying for exams, proposing to significant others, delivering newborn babies, no moment was safe from being Iced. If you could find elaborate, indirect and overcomplicated way to deliver the drink, all the better. If I tell you that YouTube is filled with videos of “Bros Icing Bros” it’s only because people still occasionally upload themselves playing the game almost a decade after its initial heyday. Smirnoff’s parent company, Diageo, released a statement denying that they had been the ones to create the viral game in
order to boost slumping sales, the company even warning consumers to drink responsibly while Icing the dignity out of each other. Diageo used this momentum to push the Smirnoff band back into the mainstream, releasing a cavalcade of fruity flavors such as Watermelon Mimosa, Screwdriver, Peach Bellini, Margarita, and whatever flavor Red White and Berry is. Other Smirnoff Ice flavors currently include Cherry Lime, Lemon Lime, Pineapple Coconut, and the perennial pairing of Black Cherry. Once considered a feminine drink, flavored alcoholic beverages became an ironically cool thing to consume after the Icing phenomena, a product so bad, that it’s good. With Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Angry Orchard both debuting in the 2010s to fantastic sales, the social stigma around this genre of drink was all but dissipating in the minds of 21-35 year old males. Alcopop drinks were becoming cool to drink, an alternative to craft beer, which was slowly becoming commandeered by elitist, gatekeeping nerds who fetishized stouts and IPAs as a precious social currency. The stage was slowly being set for the arrival and market domination of the hard seltzer, as well as the new breed of drinker that it spawned; the Clawcasian. To be continued…
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September 5 to September 11, 2019
T
SCREENERS
here’s always a lot of anticipation for fall movies, but two titles are getting an unusual amount of buzz from local movie buffs. Nothing like a great movie on a big screen to celebrate the change of seasons.
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No. 385 JOKER (October 4)
COMING SOON
BY ROBIN E. SIMMONS
AD ASTRA (September 20)
Premiering at the just-ended Venice International Film Festival, director, co-writer and co-producer James Gray’s grand, emotional outer space movie stars Brad Pitt as astronaut Roy McBride who is searching for his astronaut father. His trip takes him outward (from earth, to the moon, to Mars and on to Neptune) as well as inward. There’s also secret mission about locating the source strange and destructive power surges that threaten life on earth. This shapes up like a big adventure movie for the mind and the eye. Early audiences said the stunningly shot, claustrophobic, and melancholic cosmic psychodrama (they used those words) just might win a Best Actor Oscar© for Pitt.
Todd Phillips’ gritty origin tale of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) -- the iconic Batman villain – is a welcome standalone story never before told about a man disregarded and discarded by society is not only a potent character study but also a timely and hugely relevant cautionary tale about the repercussions of ignoring the marginalized among us. This “comic book movie” has no bearing or relationship to any previous big-screen Joker iteration. And that’s the main attraction. Originality in Hollywood is a rare treat. NEW BLU FOR THE HOME THEATER: JOHN WICK 3: PARABELLUM In Chad Stahelski’s third installment of the hi-octane action franchise, super assassin John Wick (a terrific Keanu Reeves) returns with a $14 million price tag on his head and an army of bounty hunting killers hot on his trail. After killing a member of the shadowy IAS (International Assassin’s Guild known as “The High Table), (yes, they are unionized), Wick is excommunicated, but the world’s most ruthless killers track his every move waiting for the right
moment to terminate him and collect the hefty reward. Admittedly, the world of the story may seem a little absurd, but the resulting action is so beautifully choreographed that it makes it all worthwhile. Clearly Reeves relishes the fight scenes and delivers every punch, kick, shot and stab with the relish one has come to expect from character. And actor. 4K UHD. Lionsgate. POKÉMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU
a renegade Green Beret who uses primitive tribesmen to wage his own war. Cast includes Dennis Hopper, Laurence Fishburne, Harrison Ford and Robert Duvall. Extras include over 6 hours of brand new features as well as the previous theatrical versions and the extraordinary documentary “Hearts of Darkness -- A Filmmakers Apocalypse” (all in hi-def Blu-ray), Eleanor Coppola’s account of how creative obsession can impact an artist’s and his or her family. The marvel is that despite the utter chaos, the 1879 classic was an acclaimed work of are. Graphic, gorgeous, brilliant and timeless. The horror is still very much with us. This is an essential edition of the title for the digital home library. 4K UHDR. Lionsgate. ROCKETMAN
When ace detective Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing in Rob Letterman’s fever dream of a movie, his adult son Tim tries to figure out what happened. Helping the investigation is Harry’s former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu; the wisecracking semi-adorable sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Quickly discovering the two are uniquely equipped to communicate with each other, Tim and Pikachu join forces on a crazy adventure to unravel the mystery. While chasing clues through the neon lit streets of Rhyme City – a sprawling modern city where humans and Pokémon live side-byside they uncover a shocking conspiracy that could not only bring an end to their peaceful coexistence but also bring down the curtain on the whole Pokémon universe!
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APOCALYPSE NOW: FINAL CUT Restored from the negative for the first time In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1980 masterpiece, this 6-disc edition is the most fully realized version of the iconic film which was nominated for eight Academy Awards®. Among AFI’s top 100 films, this visually sumptuous film is a surreal, hallucinatory tragedy of epic proportions about the visceral and psychological horrors of the Vietnam War. Clearly inspired by Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” the screenplay by John Milius follows a U.S. Intelligence officer (Martin Sheen) sent on a bizarre river journey deep into the jungle to terminate Colonel Kurtz, (Marlon Brando)
Actor turned director Dexter Fletcher’s epic musical fantasy follows the remarkable but formulaic journey of shy, small-town piano prodigy Reginald Dwight into international super star Elton John. Set to a handful John’s most well-known songs as performed by star Taron Egerton, this finally disappointing film misses the emotional power and cathartic healing of experiencing the music on the context of the narrative. It pales beside Flethcer’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” (he took over in the final weeks after original director Bryan Singer was booted from the production). How did a shy, small-town boy become a superstar and pop culture icon? Jamie Bell plays Bernie Taupin, Elton’s longtime lyricist and writing partner and Richard Madden is John Ried, Elton’s first manager. Bryce Dallas Howard is Sheila Farebrother, Elton’s mom. 4K. Paramount. robin@coachellavalleyweekly.com
BOOK REVIEW
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"CITY OF GIRLS" BY ELIZABETH GILBERT FICTION
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E
xperts have estimated that it will take 125 years before women earn equal pay. It is disconcerting that equality for women – pay or otherwise -- does not exist in this country, while male dominance persists. In Elizabeth Gilberts’ City of Girls (Riverhead, 470 pages) women overcome the double standard and create a world where women rule. The story is told by Vivian Morris who comes from a well-to-do family and after she’s kicked out of Vassar for lack of interest, her family sends her away to live with an aunt who was once an actress and now runs a small theater. At 19 years old in 1940, Vivian discovers a whole new world she did not know existed – New York City! She moves into a building owned by her Aunt Peg, which is four levels with the theater on the first floor and apartments above. Peg, and her partner Olive, run the “Lily Playhouse” and Peg has allowed all sort of colorful characters - actors, showgirls, musicians -- to live there free. Vivian becomes the resident seamstress. They all participate in the theater, which serves the local working community with simplistic Vaudeville-like song and dance shows. Sucked into the nightlife and magic of theater, Vivian becomes friends with some
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September 5 to September 11, 2019
WILD WOMEN
of the showgirls. When they discover she is a virgin, they help resolve the issue and Vivian quickly discovers the joy of sex with men. She parties every night! When a British star needs a place to live after her flat is bombed in London, Peg offers her and her handsome husband a place to live adding to the excitement at the Lily. A play is written specifically for the actress and it becomes a giant hit. Just when everything in the world seemed perfect and beautiful to Vivian, she is caught in a salacious and heartbreaking scandal and must return home. Vivian eventually goes back to New York, but when the Lily Playhouse is torn down, she must find a job and her own place to live. All seems right again until a man from her past confronts her provocative lifestyle and she is forced to take a new look at her way life. This is a coming-of-age story. Living with creative people in New York, and having sexual encounters was all fun and games for Vivian. She loved the attention, power and variety. But, just because she’s of age, has sex every night and drinks until dawn, it did not make her an adult. She was still naïve and innocent. So when she was caught in a salacious three-some, she found herself devastated by the unexpected hurt she caused. The sexual pleasure did not out weight the emotional pain. The men in Vivian’s life – her brother, father and a “friend” defined and dictated appropriate behavior. She did her best to conform, but ultimately recognized she could not cope with their conservative, puritanical, patriarchal ideal of women. As the cover says: “You don’t have
BY HEIDI SIMMONS
to be a good girl to be a good person.” Author Gilbert does a beautiful job recreating the world of 1940s New York City. It lives and breathes just like Vivian and her eccentric aunt and friends. Surrounded by homosexuals, bisexuals and heterosexuals, Vivian begins to understand how complicated love and sex is, they are not the same thing, and the man-made rules about love and sex don’t always make sense. The story is told by 89 year-old Vivian in the form of a letter looking back at her life. Although this allowed her to reflect on the life she lived with insight, I would have preferred a straightforward telling.
SAFETY TIPS
The most fascinating moment for me in City of Girls is when Vivian is asked about her innumerable sexual relationships with men. She confesses she has sex with men because it fills her soul to the core. Sex is the only thing that truly satisfies her thirst and passion for life. Right on! In understanding her sexual cravings, Vivian comes to love the women in her life more fully – she sees how women can support, and provide strength and companionship to one another. This is almost a feminist manifesto. How wonderful that women can have the sex life they crave, just like their male counterparts. Vivian is a fascinating character for her time. She pursued her sexual freedom, and ultimately built a world for herself that didn’t include men directing or dictating her choices – it was women who shaped her life. Men provided the sexual comfort and satisfaction. That is an interesting world, and perhaps one that reflects true gender equality.
FROM THE CHIEFS CORNER
BY FIRE CHIEF SAM DIGIOVANNA
THE PRICE FOR FREEDOM: FIRE SERVICE LESSONS FROM SEPTEMBER 11
“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” —Major General James Jackson t’s been 18 years since United Airlines flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 11 were purposely flown by hijackers into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Shortly thereafter, the Pentagon was severely damaged by the impact of an additional airliner and resulting fire. Hijackers also crashed a fourth plane into a field near Shanksville, PA., after the passengers and flight crew attempted to regain control of the aircraft. I remember like it was yesterday. I had just promoted to interim fire chief and I was with several other firefighters at the gym early that morning. It wasn’t until the second plane hit that we knew this was no accident. I was immediately notified by Verdugo Dispatch to report to work ASAP. For the first time since Pearl Harbor, the United States homeland was under attack. It would be weeks before we understood the complete toll, but within hours one thing was clear: Thousands had perished in the attacks, including a heartbreaking number of police, firefighters and EMS personnel. Equally deserving of our attention is the rise in domestic terrorism motivated by rightwing extremism, such as the deadly El Paso assault. These attackers are moved to violence by racial bias and anti-government sentiment. Since 2014, the number of attacks from rightwing extremists worldwide has been greater than attacks from Islamic extremists. In May, the head of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, Michael McGarrity, testified that “Domestic
I
terrorism is notably on the rise and the threat of domestic terrorism exists in every region of the United States and all walks of life.” As we focus on what happened that horrible day 18 years ago, the idea that foreign terrorists can and did carry out a large-scale attack on our country is fresh in our minds. Following incidents such as El Paso and Dayton, we are also understandably concerned about the threat of domestic terrorists, regardless of their motivations. However, we must remember we are far more likely to experience a different kind of disaster—a flood, a building collapse, a wildland fire. We honor the memories of those who gave their lives on 9/11 and in service to our country since. By remembering lessons from the attacks, we shall always remain prepared to fight against evil. Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna
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September 5 to September 11, 2019 CLUB CRAWLER NIGHTLIFE continued from page 13
SUN SEPTEMBER 8
29 PALMS INN; 29 Palms; 760-367-3505 Bob Garcia 6pm ACE HOTEL; PS; 760-325-9900 Lust in the Dust w/ David Oh noon, poolside, and 9pm AJ’S ON THE GREEN; C.C.; 760-2021111 Sunday Brunch w/ Live Music 11am BART LOUNGE; C.C.; 760-799-8800 DJ Spinning House, Hip Hop and Latin 7pm BERNIE’S; RM; 760-202 4499 Patrice Morris 6:30-10pm BLUEMBER; RM; 760-862-4581 TBA 5-9pm CASCADE LOUNGE, SPA RESORT; PS; 888-999-1995 Latin Night w/ Nacho Bustillos and Quinto Menguante 9pm CASTELLI’S; PD; 760-773-3365 Patrick Tuzzolino 5:30pm CHEF GEORGE’S PICASSO LOUNGE; PD; 760-200-1768 Paul Douglas 6-9pm DESERT FOX; PD; Karaoke w/ Scott 9pm DRINGK; RM; 760-888-0111 Lisa and the Gents 2-6pm THE HOOD; PD; 760-636-5220 Drag Queen Bingo 7pm, Comedy Night 8pm LANDMARK LOUNGE; LQ; 760-2896736 Scott Carter 7pm LAS CASUELAS TERRAZA; PS; 760325-2794 PS Sound Company noon, Hot Roxx 6:30pm MASTRO’S; PD; 760-776-6777 TBA 6:30-10:30pm MELVYN’S RESTAURANT & LOUNGE; PS; 760-325-2323 Sunday Jam 3:307:30pm, Mikael Healy 8pm
NEIL’S LOUNGE; IND; 760-347-1522 Karaoke 8pm THE NEST; PD; 760-346-2314 Sunday Jam Session 2-5pm, Finesse 7-11pm PALM CANYON ROADHOUSE; PS; 760327-4080 Sunday Jam Session 7pm PAPPY & HARRIET’S; PT; 760-365-5956 The Sunday Band 7:30pm SHANGHAI RED’S @ THE FISHERMAN’S MARKET; LQ; 760-7771601 Jack Ruvio 6-9pm STACY’S; PS; 760-620-5003 Ron Pass 2pm WANG’S; PS; 760-325-9264 Gina Carey 6-9pm WESTIN; RM; 760-328-5955 Lance Riebsomer 12-4pm poolside WOODY’S PALMHOUSE; PS; 760230-0188 David Ring and Les Falconer 6:30pm
MON SEPTEMBER 9
29 PALMS INN; 29 Palms; 760-367-3505 The Luminators 6pm AJ’S ON THE GREEN; C.C.; 760-2021111 Bill Marx 6:30pm BART LOUNGE; C.C.; 760-799-8800 Music by Touchtunes 7pm CASTELLI’S; PD; 760-773-3365 Patrick Tuzzolino 5:30pm CASUELAS CAFÉ; PD; 760-568-0011 The Mighty Sweet Nothings 5:30pm COPA NIGHTCLUB; PS; 760-866-0021 DJ Banks and Mr. Miami 8pm LAS CASUELAS TERRAZA; PS; 760-3252794 PS Sound Company 6:30pm
www.coachellavalleyweekly.com MASTRO’S; PD; 760-776-6777 TBA 6:30-10:30pm MELVYN’S RESTAURANT & LOUNGE; PS; 760-325-2323 Mikael Healey 8pm NEIL’S LOUNGE; IND; 760-347-1522 Karaoke 8pm-1:15am THE NEST; PD; 760-346-2314 Finesse 7-11pm PAPPY & HARRIET’S; PT; 760-365-5956 Open Mic 7pm WOODY’S PALMHOUSE; PS; 760-2300188 Elaine Woodward 7pm
TUE SEPTEMBER 10
29 PALMS INN; 29 Palms; 760-367-3505 Fast Heart Mart 6pm ACE HOTEL; PS; 760-325-9900 Ace Karaoke 9pm AJ’S ON THE GREEN; C.C.; 760-2021111 Shelley Yoelin Group 9:30pm BART LOUNGE; C.C.; 760-799-8800 House Party Tuesdays w/ DJS LF, Ax and Tanner 7pm BERNIE’S; RM; 760-202 4499 Chris Lomeli 6:30-10pm CASTELLI’S; PD; 760-773-3365 Patrick Tuzzolino 5:30pm CHEF GEORGE’S PICASSO LOUNGE; PD; 760-200-1768 Lizann Warner 6:309:30pm, DJ 9:30pm FIRESIDE LOUNGE; PS; 760-327-1700 Red’s Rockstar Karaoke 9pm HENRY’S SPORTS BAR AND GRILL; CC; 760-656-3444 Karaoke w/ KJ Danny 9pm THE HOOD; PD; 760-636-5220 Drag Queen Bingo 9pm
HUNTER’S; PS; 760-323-0700 Karaoke 9pm JOSHUA TREE SALOON; JT; 760-3662250 Ted Quinn’s Open Mic 7pm KOKOPELLI’S; YV; 760-228-2589 Karaoke 7pm LAS CASUELAS TERRAZA; PS; 760-3252794 PS Sound Company 6:30pm LIT@FANTASY SPRINGS; IND; 760-3452450 Brad’s Pad 7pm MASTRO’S; PD; 760-776-6777 Finesse 6:30-10:30pm MELVYN’S RESTAURANT & LOUNGE; PS; 760-325-2323 Mikael Healey 8pm NEIL’S LOUNGE; IND; 760-347-1522 Karaoke 8pm-1:15am THE NEST; PD; 760-346-2314 Tim Burleson 7:45pm PALM CANYON ROADHOUSE; PS; 760327-4080 Acoustic Music Lounge 7pm PLAN B LIVE ENTERTAINMENT AND COCKTAILS; TP; 760-3432115 Game Night w/ Luke O 8pm
WED SEPTEMBER 11
29 PALMS INN; 29 Palms; 760-367-3505 Daniel Horn 6pm AJ’S ON THE GREEN; C.C.; 760-2021111 Jazz Jam w/ Doug MacDonald & Friends 7pm BART LOUNGE; C.C.; 760-799-8800 Gamer Night w/ DJs 7pm BERNIE’S; RM; 760-202 4499 Chris Lomeli 6:30-10pm BLUEMBER; RM; 760-862-4581 Michael Keeth 6-10pm
CASTELLI’S; PD; 760-773-3365 Patrick Tuzzolino 5:30pm CHEF GEORGE’S PICASSO LOUNGE; PD; 760-200-1768 Barry Minniefield 6:30-9:30pm, DJ 9:30pm COACHELLA VALLEY BREWING CO; TP; 760-343-5973 Uncle Ben’s Open Mic 6-8pm COPA NIGHTCLUB; PS; 760-866-0021 Issa Wednesday Humpday w/ DJ Ax 9pm DESERT FOX; PD; Kelly Hafner 9:30pm ELECTRIC SPORTS LOUNGE; YV; 760228-1199 Karaoke 7:30pm THE HOOD; PD; 760-636-5220 Open Mic Hosted by Josh Heinz 8pm JOSHUA TREE SALOON; JT; 760-3662250 Karaoke 7:30pm KOKOPELLI’S; YV; 760-228-2589 Open Mic 8pm LAS CASUELAS TERRAZA; PS; 760-3252794 Hot Roxx 6:30pm LIT@FANTASY SPRINGS; IND; 760-3452450 Latin Night 7pm MASTRO’S; PD; 760-776-6777 Finesse 6:30-10:30pm MELVYN’S RESTAURANT & LOUNGE; PS; 760-325-2323 Mikael Healey 8pm NEIL’S LOUNGE; IND; 760-347-1522 Karaoke 8pm-1:15am THE NEST; PD; 760-346-2314 Kevin Henry 6-8pm Tim Burleson 8pm PALM CANYON ROADHOUSE; PS; 760327-4080 Roger & Friends 7pm PLAN B LIVE ENTERTAINMENT AND COCKTAILS; TP; 760-343-2115 Red’s Rockstar Karaoke 9pm
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HADDON LIBBY
I
n a world where the nine wealthiest people are worth more than over half of the population of the planet, the discrepancy between the have and the havenots has never been greater. Oxfam found that the top 1% have more than the rest of us combined. This wildly successful and usually overpaid group includes 1,500 billionaires with over one-third residing in the United States. Even after a recent divorce, Forbes reports that the richest person in the world is Jeff Bezos at $131 billion. Second on the list is Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates at $97 billion. Bill Browder of Hermitage Capital states that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is in fact the wealthiest person in the world despite his divorce as well. Browder estimates that Putin is worth $200 billion. As wealth is built over time, let’s look at the people who earned the most in 2018. As we do not have figures for people who own private businesses, let’s look at the top earning celebrities and corporate executives. As crazy as it may sound, one Chief Executive Officer made more in 2018 than the next sixtyfive CEOs combined. The highest paid banker on the list was Jamie Dimon at $30 million making him as the 22nd highest compensated executive in the U.S. Dimon is CEO of JP Morgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States. How about Netflix’ Reed Hastings? He is
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September 5 to September 11, 2019
WHO EARNED THE MOST LAST YEAR?
18th with salary plus bonus of $36 million, a 50% increase from last year. Where were the Kardashians? Only one placed near the top - Kylie Jenner who earned $167 million was third amongst celebrities. Jenner turned 22 last month. The top earning celebrity was also the top earning athlete for 2018. Floyd Mayweather earned approximately $275 million in 2018 for his fight with UFCs’ Connor MacGregor. MacGregor earned a ‘paltry’ $85 million. Not far behind Mayweather was George Clooney at $239 million due to the sale of his Casamigos Tequila brand for an estimated $1 billion. Getting back to executives, the CEO of the Burbank-based Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger came in seventh with earnings of $66 million. The brash CEO of T-Mobile, John Legere who recently pulled off a merger with Sprint earned $67 million. The highest paid woman executive was Safra Katz, the co-CEO of technology firm
DALE GRIBOW ON THE LAW
Oracle. Katz and Mark Herd each earned $108 million and reside in California. The third most highly paid executive is Nikesh Arora, CEO of the cyber-security firm, Palo Alto Networks at $125 million. Originally from India but schooled in Boston, Arora now resides in California. Even higher than Arora was the CEO of Discovery Communications, David Zaslav at $129 million. Discovery owns numerous broadcast channels including Discovery, HGTV, the Food Network and TLC. Who was the most highly compensated executive in 2018? None other than the enigmatic Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors. Musk, a brilliant character often compared to President Donald Trump due to his often unwise use of Twitter. Musk’s received approximately $2.3 billion in stock options at Tesla. Should Musk hit some seemingly impossible benchmarks, his net worth would surpass Vladimir Putin at more than $250 billion!
Something to consider as we think about some of the most highly compensated people in the world. At what point is wealth more than a number on a piece of paper? What might happen if CEOs took less and compensated their people better? While these might sound like anti-capitalist statements, history has proven repeatedly that the greater inequities become, the less stable its political systems. While recent shootings in Texas are most certainly due to mental issues by the perpetrators, at what point do we reflect on events and wonder if their behavior might be part of a larger, societal issue? History should have taught us that systemic inequity has a way of causing people to act poorly. Haddon Libby is the Founder and Managing Partner of the Fiduciary Investment Management firm, Winslow Drake. For more information, please visit WinslowDrake.com or email Hlibby@Winslowdrake.com.
LEGAL REPRESENTATION OF THE INJURED & CRIMINALLY ACCUSED
YOUR LABOR DAY DUI CONSULTATION IS A 4 LETTER WORD.. . FREE
I
f you got stopped during the 2019 Labor Day Holiday, you are possibly under suspicion of a DUI arrest. If the officer smells any alcohol, you are certainly under suspicion of a DUI. Of course the officer needs a reason or probable cause to stop you, unless you are at a DUI checkpoint. Unfortunately, probable cause could be almost anything. Even without drinking there are times when we all cross the line, speed or do not stop at the limit line for a red light. Do not become a statistic like the over a Million people who were arrested for a DUI last year.... Don’t Drink and Drive....Call a Taxi...It is a lot cheaper than calling me. During the Labor Day Holiday there are roving enforcement saturation patrols and checkpoints. They stop drivers leaving The Nest, The Red Barn, Sullivan’s etc., as well as dozens of other famous restaurants and watering holes in the greater Palm Springs area. For them it is like shooting fish in a barrel. National statistics show there is over a 90% chance of being arrested if you have the odor of alcohol on your breath. Thus you have to play the odds and prepare for the worst. If there is a moderate amount of alcohol on your breath you could become a victim of an overzealous police officer...though that does not happen as often in the CV. If you have been drinking and driving, there is good chance you will be arrested. Most of us do not realize it is not the number of drinks but rather the amount of alcohol in each drink that is determinative.
If stopped you should be Respectful and Cooperative with the officer. Initially you need to know that you can refuse to answer questions, because you are probably being arrested anyway. You can say I am not going to answer any questions but I will cooperate with you. Show the officer your driver’s license and proof of insurance. When stopped the impaired driver usually makes many mistakes. Drivers are not aware, unless they read my CV Weekly legal column, that the field sobriety and breath test at the scene are optional. Thus you do not have to take the walk the line, finger to nose, reciting the alphabet backwards and other so called sobriety tests. Likewise the breath test at the scene (unless you are on probation) is optional. A driver stopped and offered DUI tests should be cooperative and politely say that their attorney is Dale Gribow and he has advised them not to talk without calling Gribow for permission (of course they will not let you call me). The driver should explain “they have been advised these Field Sobriety Tests and the Breath Test at the scene are optional. If that is correct Mr. Officer, then I elect not to take them (unless the driver is on probation) until you call my attorney first. Then explain that you are happy to cooperate with law enforcement and take a blood test.” Remember: Silence is Golden and Handcuffs are Silver so DON’T TALK to POLICE without your lawyer’s permission. Though often referred to as a DUI criminal
defense lawyer, I choose to not view my DUI clients as “criminals”. I prefer to view them, and more importantly to treat them, as good, honest people that have found themselves in a scary and unfortunate situation after screwing up. I look upon my job as protecting the Constitutional Rights of every American who drinks, drives and gets arrested for a DUI or has an ACCIDENT. I do however “Change Hats” when I SUE Drunk Drivers for damages to my Injured or Deceased (Wrongful Death) clients. SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE ARTICLES? CONTACT DALE GRIBOW 760-837-7500/ dale@ dalegribowlaw.com. DALE GRIBOW - REPRESENTING THE INJURED AND CRIMINALLY ACCUSED
“TOP LAWYER” - California’s Prestige Magazine, Palm Springs Life (PI/DUI) 2011-20 “TOP LAWYER” - Inland Empire Magazine 2016- 2019 PERFECT 10.0 AVVO Peer Rating “PREEMINENT” Rating - Martindale Hubbell Legal Directory “BEST Attorneys of America” Selected by “Rue” (Limited to Top 100 Attorneys/state) “10 Best Attorneys” for California Legal Eagle “Best and Brightest Legal Minds” -Palm Springs Life- June 2016 “DON’T DRINK & DRIVE OR TEXT AND GET A DUI OR ACCIDENT. CALL A TAXI, LYFT OR UBER. THEY ARE A LOT CHEAPER THAN CALLING ME”. SO DRIVE SOBER OR GET PULLED OVER.
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September 5 to September 11, 2019
FREEWILL ASTROLOGY
Week of September 5
ARIES (March 21-April 19): John Muir (1838– 1914) was skilled at creating and using machinery. In his twenties, he diligently expressed those aptitudes. But at age 27, while working in a carriage parts factory, he suffered an accident that blinded him. For several months, he lay in bed, hoping to recuperate. During that time, Muir decided that if his sight returned, he would thereafter devote it to exploring the beauty of the natural world. The miracle came to pass, and for the rest of his life he traveled and explored the wilds of North America, becoming an influential naturalist, author, and early environmentalist. I’d love to see you respond to one of your smaller setbacks—much less dramatic than Muir’s!—with comparable panache, Aries. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Of all the children on the planet, three percent live in the U.S. And yet American children are in possession of forty percent of the world’s toys. In accordance with astrological omens, I hereby invite you to be like an extravagant American child in the coming weeks. You have cosmic permission to seek maximum fun and treat yourself to zesty entertainment and lose yourself in uninhibited laughter and wow yourself with beguiling games and delightful gizmos. It’s playtime! GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The ama are Japanese women whose job it is to dive to the sea bottom and fetch oysters bearing pearls. The water is usually cold, and the workers use no breathing apparatus, depending instead on specialized techniques to hold their breath. I propose we make them your inspirational role models. The next few weeks will be a favorable time, metaphorically speaking, for you to descend into the depths in quest of valuables and inspirations. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Renowned Cancerian neurologist Oliver Sacks believed that music and gardens could be vital curative agents, as therapeutic as pharmaceuticals. My personal view is that walking in nature can be as medicinal as working and lolling in a garden. As for music, I would extend his prescription to include singing and dancing as well as listening. I’m also surprised that Sacks didn’t give equal recognition to the healing power of touch, which can be wondrously rejuvenating, either in its erotic or non-erotic forms. I bring these thoughts to your attention because I suspect the coming weeks will be a Golden Age of non-pharmaceutical healing for you. I’m not suggesting that you stop taking the drugs you need to stay healthy; I simply mean that music, nature, and touch will have an extra-sublime impact on your well-being. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): If you visualize what ancient Rome looked like, it’s possible you draw on memories of scenes you’ve seen portrayed in movies. The blockbuster film Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott, may be one of those templates. The weird thing is that Gladiator, as well as many other such movies, were inspired by the grandiose paintings of the ancient world done by Dutch artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912). And in many ways, his depictions were not at all factual. I bring this to your attention, Leo, in the hope that it will prod you to question the accuracy and authenticity of your mental pictures. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to get fuzzy and incorrect memories into closer alignment with the truth, and to shed any illusions that might be distorting your understanding of reality. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I don’t know if the coming weeks will be an Anais Nin phase for you. But they could be if you want them to. It’s up to you whether you’ll dare to be as lyrical, sensual, deep, expressive, and emotionally rich as she was. In case you decide that YES, you will, here are quotes from Nin that might serve you well. 1. It is easy to love and there are so many ways to do it. 2. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to find peace with exactly who and what I am. 3. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. 4. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. 5. It was while helping others to be free that I gained my own freedom.
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© Copyright 2019 Rob Brezsny
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “When you’re nailing a custard pie to the wall, and it starts to wilt, it doesn’t do any good to hammer in more nails.” So advised novelist Wallace Stegner. I hope I’m delivering his counsel in time to dissuade you from even trying to nail a custard pie to the wall—or an omelet or potato chip or taco, for that matter. What might be a better use of your energy? You could use the nails to build something that will actually be useful to you. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I hid my deepest feelings so well I forgot where I placed them,” wrote author Amy Tan. My Scorpio friend Audrey once made a similar confession: “I buried my secrets so completely from the prying curiosity of other people that I lost track of them myself.” If either of those descriptions apply to you, Scorpio, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to secure a remedy. You’ll have extra power and luck if you commune with and celebrate your hidden feelings and buried secrets. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “No Eden valid without serpent.” Novelist Wallace Stegner wrote that pithy riff. I think it’s a good motto for you to use in the immediate future. How do you interpret it? Here’s what I think. As you nourish your robust vision of paradise-on-earth, and as you carry out the practical actions that enable you to manifest that vision, it’s wise to have some creative irritant in the midst of it. That bug, that question, that tantalizing mystery is the key to keeping you honest and discerning. It gives credibility and gravitas to your idealistic striving. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The coco de mer is a palm tree that grows in the Seychelles. Its seed is huge, weighing as much as forty pounds and having a diameter of nineteen inches. The seed takes seven years to grow into its mature form, then takes an additional two years to germinate. Everything I just said about the coco de mer seed reminds me of you, Capricorn. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you’ve been working on ripening an awesome seed for a long time, and are now in the final phase before it sprouts. The Majestic Budding may not fully kick in until 2020, but I bet you’re already feeling the enjoyable, mysterious pressure. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): If you throw a pool ball or a bronze Buddha statue at a window, the glass will break. In fact, the speed at which it fractures could reach 3,000 miles per hour. Metaphorically speaking, your mental blocks and emotional obstacles are typically not as crackable. You may smack them with your angry probes and bash them with your desperate pleas, yet have little or no effect. But I suspect that in the coming weeks, you’ll have much more power than usual to shatter those vexations. So I hereby invite you to hurl your strongest blasts at your mental blocks and emotional obstacles. Don’t be surprised if they collapse at unexpectedly rapid speeds. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In the thirteenth century, the Italian city of Bologna was serious about guarding the integrity of its cuisine. In 1250, the cheese guild issued a decree proclaiming, “If you make fake mortadella . . . your body will be stretched on the rack three times, you will be fined 200 gold coins, and all the food you make will be destroyed.” I appreciate such devotion to purity and authenticity and factualness. And I recommend that in the coming weeks, you commit to comparable standards in your own sphere. Don’t let your own offerings be compromised or corrupted. The same with the offerings you receive from other people. Be impeccable. Homework: Saul Bellow wrote, “Imagination is a force of nature. Is this not enough to make a person full of ecstasy?” Do you agree? FreeWillAstrology.com ---------------------------------------Rob Brezsny - Free Will Astrology freewillastrology@freewillastrology.com
SWAG FOR THESOUL
BY AIMEE MOSCO
COLLABORATING WITH THE UNIVERSE
“Committing yourself to your goals sets the wheels of change in motion in a very directed manner.” – Daily Agreements, Guidelines & Intentions, by Aimee Mosco and Donald L. Ferguson, page 9. hen you are ready to make any kind of change in your life, your best friend, the Universe, will be there to support you. Your subconscious conveys the energy of your thoughts to the collective Universe for you, but the greatest level of clarity is projected by conscious and directed thoughts expressed as intentions. Intentions activate the Universal Law of Attraction. Intentions that include clear language such as: “I choose to meet my highest potential by creating the experience of…” or, “I choose to align myself with success to the highest degree by creating the event of…” may yield greater and more specific cocreative support from the Universe than unmanaged, inconsistent subconscious projections. When you have decided on, and articulated intentions that best reflect what it is you are looking to achieve, an effective way to further fortify your thoughtful intentions and move yourself toward your expected outcome, is to declare your commitment to achieving success. The dictionary defines commitment as “the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc.” When the achievement of a goal is meaningful and you are invested enough to dedicate yourself to that achievement, you are putting the world on notice that you are truly ready for change. One way to refine your fidelity to the highest degree is to create a list of “commitment terms”. As with anything, what you give is what you get. If you take the time to consider what connects you with the ability to demonstrate your highest level of commitment, and put those terms to paper, you are taking charge and exercising your conscious creatorship abilities.
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A few examples to consider building upon as “commitment terms” are as follows: “I will use my resources in ways that allow me to meet my highest potential with grace and ease” “I will connect with my highest level of selfconfidence in each step I take on this journey” “I will receive the assistance of the collective Universe with an open heart” Declaring your commitment to the achievement of your goals, and crafting your terms is like putting a stamp on the envelope of the invitation you are sending to the Universe with your intentions. You are ensuring that your request for assistance is received by the most appropriate Universal authority, and most helpful collaborative partner. In my pursuit to help you achieve your highest potential as a being of light, I invite you to join Facebook group Evolve through Love hosted by Elizabeth Scarcella, BB Ingle and me. Go to facebook.com/groups/ evolvethroughlove and share with us your experiences. Aimee Mosco is an Author, Intuitive Channel, Global Ambassador for SpeakingfromOurHearts.org, and Co-Founder of Intentional Healing Systems, LLC. Aimee’s passion for helping others inspired her book “Gratitude + Forgiveness x (LOVE) = Happiness”. For more information, find Aimee at www. ihsunity.com
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September 5 to September 11, 2019
CANNABIS CORNER
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BY RUTH HILL R.N.
NEW HEALTH RISK FOR VAPE PENS
T
he CDC government media on August 23, 2019, released a Telebriefing on Severe Pulmonary Disease Associated with Use of E-cigarettes. An audio of the briefing can be found on their website cdc.gov/media. As of August 22nd, between June 28th and August 20th of this year, there were 193 potential cases, in 22 states of severe lung illness associated with e-cigarette product use. One death has been reported in Illinois. Evidence does not suggest that an infectious disease is a principle cause of the illness. Investigators have yet to identify any product or compound linked to all of the cases, but two are implicated is a few. They are Dank Vapes and West Coast Carts. Symptoms included breathing difficulty, shortness of breath, gastrointestinal illnesses as well and/or hospitalization. Before June 28th people have been vaping from illicit places without illness. What changed in the street market now? California has 24 suspected cases of the hyperinflammatory lung response, first identified in the town of Hanford on Aug. 14 after seven young adults all suffered from sudden acute respiratory distress in the past month. The common thread: each patient had purchased disposable, THC-filled vaporizer cartridges from an illegal street market. Most importantly, no cases are associated with adultuse or medical cannabis products from legal statelicensed stores. The 24 suspected cases occurred in Kings County which has banned licensed cannabis stores. Almost all affected states do not have adultuse legalization in effect. They include Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin. We have never had clusters of health crisis before. Cannabis is a $52 billion US industry, according to the RAND Corporation. Legal stateregulated sales represent $11 billion of the total— only 21%. That leaves a massive $41 billion illegal market open to anybody willing to take the legal risks necessary to supply the demand. Without lab testing, vapers often judge the THC potency of a cart by the thickness of the oil in the chamber. Thick oil has become a proxy for purity. Thin oil is a red flag. Lab tests have caught new novel cutting agents that make the oil flow called Thick or Honey Cut. This new additive may or may not play a role in the current
health crisis. Pesticides, residual solvents, minerals, mold, heavy metals, and synthetic cannabinoids or anything in the formulation of the product in illicitmarket cannabis vape carts are under scrutiny. Ben Disinger, the marketing manager of True Terpenes said, in-house testing revealed a suspected substance known as tocopherol-acetate, usually found in skin creams. The National Institutes of Health database Pubchem.com states that inhaling tocopherol-acetate can cause wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, and burning in the mouth, throat or chest, and could potentially lead to hospitalization. The use of an illegal off label ingredient could be the culprit. One example is the use of Uber Thick which is used legally for terpenes. How should the public act on this information. The main message is buying the vape pens in legal dispensaries. . This will insure testing is done on required elements: potency, physical contaminants, heavy metals, contamination, chemical contaminants, microbial contaminants, comprehensive cannabinoid and terpene profiling. Using cannabis flower in vaporizers is another safety measure. Openly discuss safe marijuana use with your young adults up to 21 years of age. Do not buy in smoke shops. It would be safer if the adult parent would purchase the legal vape pen rather than trust the young adult to his/her spontaneous whimsy. Supervise its use similar to introducing young adults to alcohol consumption. There are those who believe binge drinking started when the drinking age was lowered from 21 to 18. We know when alcohol was prohibited people resorted to bootleg liquor which lead to many sicknesses. Could the legal limit of 21 for marijuana be a factor in teen use of illicit vapes? It is an idea worth discussing. Ruth Hill is a cannabis lecturer and consultant. Find her at hilruth@gmail.com
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